Delaware
Delaware grandmother gives old uniforms from Newark Police Department new life in the form of teddy bears
Giving back in the form of teddy bears. It’s the mission of one Delaware grandmother to help her local police department.
Sewing is a skill Robin Broomall’s mastered.
“Sometimes I really get on the roll and I’ll just keep cutting out patterns,” Broomall said while in a conference room at the Newark Police Department. That is where the 78-year-old brought her sewing machine.
“I have had this pattern for this bear probably 50 years,” Broomall said, pointing to a teddy bear in progress.
The call to help from Newark police came a lot sooner than that and it was Lt. Greg D’Elia on the other end of the line.
“The concept of this really kind of started popping in my head about two, three years ago,” D’Elia said.
That concept was a teddy bear made out of recycled police uniforms. D’Elia said as a dad himself, he knows his kids love stuffed animals. Once he saw Broomall making bears for children fleeing Ukraine, D’Elia reached out.
“So far, it’s been about 30,” Broomall said about how many teddy bears she’s made so far.
Each bear is a little different, but still adorned with a heart nose, and patch on their tummy.
“As soon as Greg D’Elia mentioned this project, I thought it just, it’s fit for me, because I’m a sewer, I’m a crafter, but it’s also giving back to the community,” Broomall said.
Each bear is put into an officer’s patrol car, just in case it’s needed by a child during a call. So far, D’Elia said they haven’t had to give too many out.
“I’m actually happy about that because if we’re giving these things out, that means some kids having a bad day,” D’Elia said.
Still, more teddys are to come. Broomall said she has two old uniforms hanging in her closet soon to become bears.
“As long as they keep giving me shirts, and as long as I can keep sewing and I’ll just keep doing it…” Broomall said. “I don’t have any reason to stop!”
The U.S. Coast Guard and multiple partner agencies are responding to a barge fire in Delaware Bay on Tuesday after a tug reported that the vessel it was towing had caught fire.
According to the Coast Guard, watchstanders at Sector Delaware Bay received a call at approximately 8:20 a.m. from the tug Douglas J, reporting that the barge under tow was on fire. The barge was reportedly carrying scrap metal.
Authorities are towing the burning barge to a position about two miles off Maurice River Cove, New Jersey, in an effort to move the incident away from the main shipping channel while firefighting operations continue.
The Coast Guard has established a safety zone and issued a Broadcast Notice to Mariners as crews work to contain the fire and reduce potential hazards to vessel traffic in the busy port complex. Multiple fire departments have deployed fireboats to assist with suppression efforts.
No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Responders from Coast Guard Station Philadelphia, Coast Guard Station Cape May, and Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City have been deployed to assist. Partner agencies on scene include the Wilmington Fire Department, Delaware City Fire Department, Philadelphia Fire Department, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, and Delaware Emergency Management.
The incident follows another major barge fire in the Delaware Bay region in 2022, when a barge carrying scrap household appliances burned for approximately 26 hours in what officials described as the largest firefighting operation in Delaware state history.
Response operations for the current fire remain ongoing.
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Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:34AM
MINQUADALE, Del. (WPVI) — The DMV in Wilmington, Delaware is reopening at 8a.m. Tuesday.
This comes after the deadly shooting of State Trooper Matthew “Ty” Snook, 34, in December 2025.
A man walked into the facility and shot and killed Snook.
The DMV said service at the Wilmington location will be by appointment only for now. The Delaware City, Dover, and Georgetown DMV locations will continue to offer walk-in service to customers.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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