TIFFANY REPECKI Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Angelo Vaughn accepts a Tommy the Moose dolls Tuesday from Jean Sherry, senior regent for the Women of the Moose, Chapter 815. The club donated a dozen of the dolls to the agency.

A local Women of the Moose chapter donated a dozen stuffed animals to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday to be given to distressed children.

Members of Chapter 815 presented LCSO Deputy Angelo Vaughn with the Tommy the Moose dolls during a presentation at the Cape Coral Moose Lodge 2199. The toys are given to children that deputies encounter during calls.

The stuffed animals are used to help calm children who are involved in a traffic accident or are lost or hurt, Vaughn explained. Often, the deputies respond to domestic incidents and the dolls are given to youths present.

“It helps put a smile on their face,” he said.

This is the first time that the women’s group donated the toys. They have another dozen Tommy the Moose dolls ready when the LCSO needs more.

The Women of the Moose, Chapter 815, donated a dozen Tommy the Moose dolls to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday. When deputies respond to a situation involving a distressed child, the child is given one of the toys.

“It’s for the children,”said Jean Sherry, senior regent for Women of the Moose, Chapter 815. “It’s a comfort – that’s the purpose.”

She called the program a good idea.

Vaughn agreed.

“We feel this is a very good tradition with the Moose Lodge,” he said.

Vaughn estimated that the LCSO hands out between 50 and 100 toys to distressed children each year. The agency receives the donated items from local groups, like the Rotary and Kiwanis, as well as from regular citizens.

“It’s very good for the community,” he said, adding that it brings together organizations, the agency and the public. “We’re all on the same page.”

The men’s group at the Cape Coral Moose Lodge 2199 recently donated a dozen Tommy the Moose dolls to the Cape Fire Department and two dozen to the Cape Police Department for the same purpose – to be given to children.

Ed Hammon, the organizer of Tuesday’s presentation, explained that the men’s group has another dozen dolls for Cape fire when they needed.

He said it was the first time the lodge donated to the Cape agencies, but the Tommy the Moose program is common among the international organization.

“It’s a tradition,” Hammon said, adding that the local men’s and women’s groups will continue to donate the stuffed animals to the local agencies.

The Cape Coral Moose Lodge 2199 is at 155 Santa Barbara Blvd., N., just north of Pine Island Road.

For more information about Tommy the Moose or the Cape Coral Moose Lodge 2199, call the lodge at 242-8029 or visit online at: lodge2199.org.