Keith Urban fans from around the world concluded their 15th Annual Valentine’s Day Stuffed Monkey Drive for sick, hospitalized and at-risk children. The drive was put on hold last year due to the pandemic. This year, a record breaking 5,330 new stuffed monkeys were collected in 3 countries and 44 U.S. states.
Locally, Northborough resident Tricia Campero collected 438 stuffed monkeys, which were donated to UMASS Memorial Children’s Medical Center in Worcester on Valentine’s Day.
Members of Keith Urban’s online community, ‘The ‘Ville’ and Facebook and Twitter fans have been soliciting donations of new stuffed monkeys from family, friends, neighbors and their communities and then mailing or shipping them to numerous fan collection homes across the U.S., Canada and Australia. The monkeys are distributed to sick and needy children in various Children’s hospitals and charities for Valentine’s Day.
The monkey drive began 15 years ago when Keith had a campaign where he urged his fans to get involved or volunteer in their communities.
Eileen Henri, coordinator of the drive, was looking for ideas of ways to get involved when an article in a local newspaper caught her eye. A local garage was collecting stuffed monkeys for abused and neglected children at a local safe house for Valentine’s Day. They called it ‘Monkey Love’.
“I purchased some stuffed monkeys and donated them to the drive and posted about it,” said Henri. “The next thing I knew, others were asking to join in too. Now, 15 years later that garage has closed but our drive continues. That first year we collected approximately 53 monkeys and our numbers have increased every year since.”
Campero loves Keith Urban and joined a few Facebook groups for Keith Urban and it was there that she learned about the drive. She has been involved with the local stuffed monkey collection since 2020.
“I reached out to Eileen to become a collection home,” she said “I wanted to do this not only to be a representative of Keith Urban fans, but also to give back to the hospital that treated my son for cancer.”
