Jon Mark Beilue: Stuffed Buffs make way to BSA

On a Monday in December, the first day of the work week after final exams and graduation, West Texas A&M University history professor Dr. Bruce Brasington was in Baptist St. Anthony’s hospital.

Oh, he was fine. Brasington was there at 9 a.m., gingerly navigating some ice in the parking lot to make two trips with boxes of stuffed WT buffaloes. In this time of COVID-19, he wasn’t getting far into the lobby anyway where Celeste Paulson, marketing and communication specialist for BSA, met him.

It was there he handed off about five dozen of the stuffed buffaloes, destined for the beds and rooms of the children in the pediatric ward of the hospital. It has become a Christmas tradition for Brasington for at least a decade, maybe longer.

“This is me speaking – it’s because I’m a Christian and one small way to minister. I don’t know how else to say it,” Brasington said. “And I don’t do nearly enough. I’m thankful obviously for what they did for me. This is a way of saying thanks, one small way to say thank you.”

It was October 1998, and Brasington, who has dealt with asthma all of his life, was at a WT football game. He probably shouldn’t have gone, but he did. At some point, he became overly tired, and had a major asthma attack.

“It was described to me later as ‘near fatal,’” Brasington said.

Brasington was rushed to BSA where he was intubated. He didn’t wake up until the next day in ICU. The following day, he was moved to a room where a respiratory therapist told him what he had endured. The therapist also mentioned a number of children ages 6 and under who were admitted that weekend because of severe asthma.

“I was 41 at the time and I remember how difficult that was for me, and I thought how tough it must be for a 6-year-old,” he said.

It took about eight years for Brasington to get his project going. While he has some initial regrets for taking that long, it’s also never the wrong time to do the right thing.

It began by Brasington buying some WT stuffed buffaloes here and there as a solo project to give to BSA pediatrics during the holidays. In a short time, why not involve others? Maybe others would like to help?

Brasington began mentioning that to his classes in the fall, soft-selling the idea of participation because, as he said, $10 for a buffalo can be a lot to a student. But a number of students picked up on it. University-wide email only added to the participation, which has grown to include the Herdsmen, the Buff football team and the president’s office.

The president’s office contributed 25 buffaloes. This year, Brasington also provided pediatric nurses and doctors with protein bars and other snacks.

“I talked to President Wendler and he thought it was a great idea,” said Tracee Post, chief of staff and assistant vice president for strategic communications. “With everything going with the pandemic, it seemed like a very nice thing to participate in this time of the year. Our medical field has gone above and beyond with the pandemic.”

Some students donated WT key chains. Others went to the bookstore, and this year especially, some ordered through Amazon and delivered them to the history department. Through social media, some of Brasington’s former students, now teachers living in other parts of the country, contributed.

That the buffaloes have the WT insignia on them also plays into it. After all, it is a WT Buffalo and not a teddy bear.

“We need to make it clear whenever possible that WT is this region’s university,” Brasington said. “We need to remind people that we are part of the greater community of the Texas Panhandle.”

The gathering and distribution of the stuffed buffaloes has fallen in that period after graduation and before Christmas for a decade or more.

“There’s no good time for children to be in the hospital,” Brasington said, “but particularly during Christmas is hard.”

Teri Skelton, director of pediatric services at BSA, said that COVID-19 has changed much in the way the hospital has operated in 2020, but Brasington’s Christmas trek has remained constant.

“The one certainty we know is Prof. Brasington will arrive with his buffaloes as he has for many years,” said Skelton, a registered nurse. “They provide comfort to the children with a soft place to lay their heads or just a new friend to snuggle. They love them!

“Our thanks to Prof. Brasington and his students for their generosity, for thinking of the littles during this blessed season of Christmas and for also leaving his stamp on the future Buffs who may bring stuffed buffalo toys someday.”

This easily could have been a one-year gesture of gratitude from a professor who was cared for in a serous asthmatic crisis 22 years ago. But it has become an annual act of kindness for Brasington that’s part of the Christmas celebration.

“This is nothing like the Eveline Rivers Project, but it has got a little bigger over time and hopefully it will continue to grow,” he said. “I’m pretty traditional. I like tradition. This is something from a personal level that’s part of the holiday season.

“I see it as a ministry. It’s not a big flashy thing but something in the way of ministering as much as anything.”

Do you know of a student, faculty member, project, an alumnus or any other story idea for “WT: The Heart and Soul of the Texas Panhandle?” If so, email Jon Mark Beilue at jbeilue@wtamu.edu.