'Lost Stuffy Project' reunites Texas flood victims with replicas of lost comfort items

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A beloved stuffed monkey is on its way to accompany a young Camp Mystic camper in her final resting place.

The weathered Jellycat animal, pre-loved by another child, is en route in an overnight shipment to her family in Houston before her funeral on Friday. This tender reunion is all thanks to a grassroots project grounded in reuniting children and their beloved stuffed animals.

The "Lost Stuffy Project," founded by Randi Jaffe, locates replacements of children's lost comfort items after natural disasters. 

The mother of two said that restless sleep during the Los Angeles fires in January, combined with her experience as a child life specialist, ignited the idea, despite her living across the country in New Jersey.

“I remember waking up and thinking, ‘What would I grab if my house was on fire?’ And I thought of my three year old’s tiny, little stuffed animal that is irreplaceable,” Jaffe said. “It just dawned on me, ‘Oh, my God, these kids lost everything and they don’t even have any of their familiar comfort items, their lovies, their blankets, their stuffed animals that they’ve had their whole lives.'”

Within the first week of the fires, Jaffe said that it was obvious to her that the "Lost Stuffy Project" could help after future destruction.

“We unfortunately knew that there would be more opportunities for us to be involved and help families reunite with their comfort items,” Jaffe said. “Of course, we never, ever want to think that this horrible catastrophe could happen, but we’re happy to be able to provide some sort of comfort to any of the families affected.”

The process begins when a family fills out the request form for a lost comfort item. The "Lost Stuffy Project" first searches on major shopping platforms like Amazon, Target or Walmart before turning to an online call-out if it's not easily findable.

Jaffe said that after posting about the stuffed monkey, commenters on the Instagram post helped find a perfect match within 15 minutes.

In contrast to the LA fires, the flood has initiated a twist to the "Lost Stuffy Project." Jaffe said local Texas community members have reached out to her with items that they've recovered.

"Now we're trying to just get the word out to try to find the family who it belongs to," Jaffe said, talking about a horse stuffed animal that has accumulated over a million views on TikTok. "That's kind of in reverse what we do. But we're, of course, still doing whatever we can to just spread awareness."

In instances when the stuffed animal is “very loved" and requires a makeover before being nestled into a packaging box, a partner to the "Lost Stuffy Project" in Michigan refurbishes the item. 

Jaffe's experience from working in a pediatric hospital has proven to her that children grow attached to items they’ve had since early life. She said it’s hard to replace anything that a child connects with.

“The purpose of reuniting kids with these comfort items is to bring back that normalcy, that familiarity to create a safe space and feel connected in some way to what [they’ve] lost,” Jaffe said.

How the project relies on community support

The "Lost Stuffy Project" is currently trying to connect with every family that’s been affected by the flooding in Texas, according to Jaffe. In addition to replacing comfort items, the organization is also purchasing new products from family wish lists that they come across. 

The ability for the organization to purchase items is due to the outpouring of donations from the public. Jaffe said that recent donors of stuffed animals lost in the flash floods have denied being reimbursed for shipping costs because people are “so desperate to help.”

“I think people are just so overjoyed to be able to provide this tiny piece of comfort to these families,” she said.

After they are done delivering stuffies, the organization said their next step is to "replace really, anything and everything we can that the girls had brought to camp with them."

"There's one little girl who we've already replaced four of her stuffed animals she lost. She brought everything to camp, everything that was important to her," Jaffe said. "She brought to camp all of her skincare and her favorite outfits and her Taylor Swift merch and all of these things. And now they're gone, so we're going to work to replace everything that we can. That's going to be our next pivot."

'Lost Stuffy Project' leaves impact on LA fire victims

Before the Palisades Fire in January, Shay Icardo was talking for months about wanting a unicorn-themed party for her fifth birthday. When her family home burst into flames, now all she wanted was her favorite doll back.

“I was not sleeping much during that time, and I started messaging with Randi. I told her it was Shay’s birthday,” Shay’s mother, Caitlyn Crisp, said. “She was just like, ‘What does she want?’”

Shortly after, a doll appeared at the household, with Beanie Babies and an alpaca toy for the other two daughters.

Crisp said that the "Lost Stuffy Project" provided much-needed normalcy to Shay and her sisters, Sienna and Summer.

"As parents, we want our kids to feel as normal as they can when going through something really difficult,” she said. “It might seem kind of insignificant but I think it can really make a big difference.”

To help the "Lost Stuffy Project" in their mission, or to request a comfort object lost, go to their website or Instagram.