In January 2002 northeast Phoenix, Arizona resident Dr. James Meade went into Kmart after Christmas. While there, he noticed a large number of collectible bears left over from Christmas 2001. He decided to purchase the bears and give them to children in need. The only catch was that each bear had the year 2001 embroidered on its foot. After failing to remove the stitching, Dr. Meade was inspired to create a special holiday story about how the bears were lost on Christmas Eve and did not arrive in the loving arms of the children until the following year. He called it "The Story of the Lost Bears".