"But when we went to gather them and take them back to go to the next nursing home, nobody wanted to give up their teddy bear or their stuffed animal in any way," she said."And all of a sudden, the whole room became alive with people jingling bells and holding Santa Claus [dolls] and everything and they really didn't want to give them back because they thought we had given them a gift."Patricia wanted to continue her tradition of giving, so she put an ad on Craigslist, asking for gently used stuffed animals."One mother in particular said her daughter passed away, she had all these stuffed animals ... she had kept them all on her daughter's bed for years, but when she saw my post on Craigslist, she felt it was her daughter saying, 'Mom, it's time to pass these along so others can enjoy them.'"After receiving a surplus, Gallagher started capping how many she'll collect at one time, and says she'll take in about 250 stuffed animals each week during the holiday season."