Kipps Elementary School is hosting a "bear drive" to send teddy bears of support to schools on the Fort Hood military base in Texas.

The goal is to collect more than 300 bears -- one for every classroom in the seven Fort Hood elementary schools -- by Monday.

"We want to send the students of Fort Hood a bear as a source of comfort and a reminder that they have friends who know what they're going through and care about them," teacher Allison Dinkel said in a news release.

Dinkel and Stephanie Johnston, both fourth-grade teachers, and their students came up with the idea. The Blacksburg school was hit hard by the April 16, 2007, shootings at Virginia Tech.

Kipps' Bear Drive builds on a project started by students from Oklahoma City who sent "care bears" to a school in Washington, D.C., after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Washington school then sent a large box of stuffed bears to Kipps students after the Tech shootings.

Anyone interested in helping out with the bear drive should contact the school at 951-5760.