The Stories Behind the 2026 We Are Carroll Awards
Why Rachel’s Bears Has Been Rising All Along
By Jaclyn Mathias, CFCC Executive Director
My beginning with Rachel’s Bears was a little different.
When Andrea Gerhard officially opened the Rachel’s Bears Fund at the Community Foundation of Carroll County in 2023, I wasn’t there. I had badly injured my ankle and needed surgery. Seven pins later, I was essentially bedridden for eight weeks while everything healed. For someone who is usually in the middle of just about everything happening at the Foundation, being completely removed from it was strange.
CFCC’s program director, Melody Schudel, remembers that time from the other side. She remembers a skeleton crew, a lot of stress, and everyone doing whatever needed to be done to keep the Foundation moving while I was out.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that, Andrea walked through our door.
Melody was the one who met her, heard her story, and helped her establish the fund. When I asked Melody recently what she remembered most about Andrea from that first meeting, she didn’t hesitate. She remembered her passion. She also remembered realizing that what Andrea was doing was much bigger than she initially understood.
Because Andrea wasn’t coming to the Community Foundation with an idea she hoped to someday start.
She had already started it.
Years before Rachel’s Bears officially became a fund here, Andrea was already collecting books and stuffed animals for children in hospitals. The effort began in 2019 in memory of Sweet Alexa, who lost her battle with pediatric brain cancer in 2015. What started as a way to honor one little girl grew again after Andrea lost her lifelong friend, Rachel Williams, in 2022. Rachel was a pediatric nurse at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital who had spent her career caring for children. Andrea found a way to carry both of their stories forward through something children could actually hold onto during some of their hardest days.
A book and a bear. It sounds so simple.
But sometimes simple things carry an incredible amount of love.
When Rachel’s Bears officially became a fund of the Community Foundation in 2023, its purpose was to collect sponsorships for stuffed bears, books, and plush toys to bring smiles and cheer to children during their hospital stays. What Andrea had already begun on her own now had a place to continue growing.
By the time I returned to work, Rachel’s Bears was already here.
That almost never happens to me. Usually, I know the people behind our funds from the beginning. I sit across from them and hear the story that brought them through our doors. I learn the names behind the mission, what they hope to accomplish, and why it matters so much to them. I get to watch those first roots take hold.
Andrea and I somehow skipped that part.
I knew her name before I really knew her. I had seen her supporting other funds and programs here at the Foundation. I had watched her show up for other people’s causes, share their work, celebrate them, and find ways to connect people. And I think she knew me much the same way.
So when we finally did meet, it was almost funny. It felt like we already knew each other even though, technically, we had never really met.
Looking back, maybe that was the perfect way for me to meet Andrea. I got to see what she did before I ever heard her explain why she did it. And by then, she was already growing something remarkable.
That word—growing—keeps coming back to me when I think about Andrea and Rachel’s Bears. Because this mission has never stayed still.
Andrea kept finding another hospital. Another partner. Another person willing to help. Another opportunity to collect books and bears. Another way to tell Rachel and Alexa’s stories while creating comfort for children and families she may never personally meet.
Since becoming a fund of the Community Foundation in 2023, Rachel’s Bears has collected more than 5,500 books and bears and reached 26 hospitals in 32 states.
Those numbers are impressive, of course. But the numbers are not really what makes Rachel’s Bears special to me.
It is the way Andrea brings people into the work.
She doesn’t simply ask people to support Rachel’s Bears. She gives them a way to become part of it. Businesses sponsor. People donate. Groups collect. Volunteers help. Other organizations share the mission. Children receive something tangible that tells them somebody, somewhere, was thinking about them.
Andrea has taken grief—something that can so easily make our worlds smaller—and somehow used it to make her circle bigger.
That is a gift.
And other people noticed it long before we finally handed her this award.
In 2024, Andrea took Rachel’s Bears to the Carroll Biz Challenge and won the People’s Choice Award. I remember watching that, along with other recognition she received outside the Foundation, and sometimes thinking that maybe I was a little late to the party.
Because here is the truth.
Rachel’s Bears could have won our Rising Star Award almost every year since Andrea became part of the Community Foundation.
Every year, the vote was incredibly close. Every year, she was right there.
And every year she didn’t win, Andrea did exactly what she had been doing before anyone was voting on anything.
She kept going. She kept growing.
She kept showing up.
There is something about that that matters to me.
Awards are wonderful. Recognition matters. I have spent a large part of my career believing that we need to stop and say thank you to the people who make our community stronger. That is exactly why the We Are Carroll Awards exist.
But the people who stay with me are usually the ones whose work would continue whether there was ever an award attached to it or not.
Andrea is one of those people. So why this year?
I have thought about that.
Maybe there was a reason Rachel’s Bears came so close each year without quite getting there. Maybe the story still had more to show us. Maybe we needed a little more time to see just how far Andrea could take something that began with a few books, a few bears, and a heart determined to honor two people she loved.
Because this year, we were no longer looking at what Rachel’s Bears might become. We could see what Andrea had already grown.
We could see children being reached across state lines. We could see hospitals becoming partners. We could see a community gathering around her. We could see a mission that began with loss becoming larger and stronger without ever losing the personal love at the center of it.
Andrea was already rising when she came to us.
In fact, she was already rising before I ever had the chance to meet her.
Maybe this year was simply the year the timing finally caught up with the story.
The Rising Star Award is not just about recognizing someone new. To me, it is about recognizing momentum. It is seeing something special taking root and realizing that what has already been accomplished may only be the beginning.
That is Rachel’s Bears.
Andrea took the love she carries for Alexa and Rachel and gave it somewhere to go. She turned it into books packed into boxes, bears tucked beside them, hospital deliveries, partnerships, volunteers, sponsors, smiles, and thousands of small reminders to children that they are not alone.
And somehow, with every child Rachel’s Bears reaches, two beautiful lives continue reaching people too.
That is the heart behind the bears.
It is why I am so proud that this year, Rachel’s Bears is the recipient of the 2026 We Are Carroll Rising Star Award.
Andrea was already growing something extraordinary when she came through our doors. We just finally caught up.
Join Us as We Celebrate
The Community Foundation of Carroll County invites you to join us for the 2026 We Are Carroll Awards: Rooted & Rising Together on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the Carroll Arts Center in Westminster.
This special evening celebrates the individuals and organizations whose generosity, leadership, and service continue to strengthen Carroll County. Together, we’ll honor the 2026 award recipients, recognize our BFF Award winner, and celebrate the stories that remind us why community matters.
Whether you’re a longtime supporter of the Community Foundation or joining us for the first time, we hope you’ll be part of this inspiring evening as we celebrate the people whose roots continue to help Carroll County rise.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now. Reserve your seat today:
About Rooted Reflections
Rooted Reflections is a storytelling series by Jaclyn “Jacie” Mathias, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Carroll County, sharing the people, values, and legacies behind the 2026 We Are Carroll Awards: Rooted & Rising Together.
