Ryan Reynolds Offers Reward for Stolen Sentimental Teddy Bear

Ryan Reynolds might play a sarcastic superhero onscreen in Deadpool, but he is proving that he’s a superhero in real life with his new mission to bring a teddy bear home to its rightful owner by offering a $5,000 reward for it.

On July 25th, multiple Canadian news outlets picked up a story about a Vancouver woman whose teddy bear was stolen and was looking to have it returned.

This is not just any old teddy bear, it was a custom-made Build-A-Bear that had a recording inside of it that meant the world to Mara Soriano, the owner of the stuffed animal.

Inside the irreplaceable Build-A-Bear was a recording of Mara’s mother’s voice, of whom passed away last June after a difficult battle with cancer. 

Speaking in her natural voice and native language of Filipino, Marilyn Soriano’s last message to her daughter was “I love you I’m proud of you, I’ll always be with you,” which was recorded before she was placed in hospice and is stuck inside the now missing bear.

When Reynolds caught wind of this story, he not only retweeted the Canadian news outlets reporting on it, but he himself wanted to help with the search.

“Vancouver: $5,000 to anyone who returns this bear to Mara. Zero questions asked,” the actor tweeted, understanding the importance of this bear and the tragedy of having it stolen.

The bear was last seen in a backpack that also included important documents, a Nintendo Switch, an iPad, and more – yet all Mara cares about is the Build-A-Bear and her mother’s memory.

“It’s a reminder of home,” Mara told CBC of the stuffed animal’s deeply personal significance and the urgency to find it.

The bear, backpack, and all were stolen while Mara and her fiancée were in the middle of moving. There is a video of the thief taking the bag from their building’s loading dock and leaving with it.

The stuffed animal wears a red and white apron and glasses, emulating Mara’s late mother.

Ryan Reynolds even kickstarted the hashtag “#FindMarasBear,” which now has thousands of tweets and even more retweets to its name.

With Reynolds, a fellow Canadian with over 16 million Twitter followers, on her side, we can only hope the bear gets returned to its deserving, hopeful owner and that a mother’s last words of affirmation can be heard again.