Feel Better Friends are handmade dolls stuffed with love and well wishes, crafted by volunteers and donated to children battling cancer and other illnesses.
In May of 2014 Founder Shanon Fouquet came up with the idea when she saw a picture of a little girl named Berkeley who was battling cancer and holding her American Girl doll. Like most little girls who have this popular doll, Berkeley was “twinning”, or dressed identically to her doll. Shanon looked at this particular photo of this brave little girl who was proud to be going ‘wigless’ to her doctor’s appointment that day, and Shanon couldn’t help but wonder if Berkeley would like for her doll to be able to go ‘wigless’ too.
It was then that Shanon decided to come up with a handmade doll created just for Berkeley with a wig and matching clothes that could go ‘wigless’ just like her! Shanon had so much fun making Berkeley’s doll that she decided to make more dolls for other children suffering from cancer and other illnesses, who would like the comfort of a Feel Better Friends doll custom made with their own likeness and characteristics.
It was then that the FBF project was started and quickly grew and soon there were enough children wanting FBF dolls that Shanon couldn’t keep up. She started a volunteer group of other crocheters who wanted to give just like Shanon. Now with almost 200 volunteers across the US and some in other countries, there are children all around the world receiving the love and comfort of their very own FBF dolls.
You can find out more about the Feel Better Friends project and see all the fun dolls created on our Feel Better Friends Facebook page here.