It’s a message of community: we’re here for you during these tough times.

Across Niagara-on-the-Lake, families are placing teddy bears in windows to show a sense of endurance and tenacity amid this global pandemic, the likes of which has never been witnessed before.

Stephanie Baxter, a mother of three from Old Town, drove around with her children last week to see how many bears they could spot. In total they found about 30 bears in an hour and a half, she said.

It’s a good way to get out of the house while still being isolated in your vehicle, said Baxter, who originally posted the idea to the NOTL 4 All Facebook page after seeing it circulating online.

“I saw the bear hunt posted in a Facebook group and thought how much fun it would be for NOTL kids to look for while out enjoying fresh air,” she said.

“In this time of uncertainty, we as parents have to help to keep our kids thriving in everyday life. We as a family have been trying to find new activities to do and keep the kids active, whether it would be bike ride, walk or car ride around town. We went out that night as it was a beautiful evening to roll our windows down and search for positive things thought the community.”

The kids, Whitnie, 9, Jayden, 7, and Evan, 6, had a “great time looking and spotting all the different teddys in the windows or on front steps,” she said.

“Evan says he loved seeing Pikachu in the windows. Whitnie says she had a great time because on our drive we (saw) some of her friends out playing in their yards, so we stopped to say a quick hi.”

Jayden enjoyed being able to beat his brother and sister with the highest number of teddy bears spotted, she said. But the main goal was just to show love to your neighbours.