About 35 Amazon employees gathered in Santa Clara, California on August 5th, 2026 for a Rescue Bear® team building event. Teams worked through riddles and built custom stuffed animals that all culminated in an amazing donation. The bears went to children at a Live in Peace school in East Palo Alto. Tito Alvarez from Live in Peace received them and spoke to the group about their mission.
Amazon is one of the world’s largest technology and commerce companies. The Santa Clara event brought together a team coming through a period of significant change. The session was designed to reconnect. Change tends to interrupt informal connections. This event was built to rebuild them. Debbie Brunet had worked with this specific team before.
Amazon Bay Area Team Rebuilds Connections Through Rescue Bear® Team Building Event in Santa Clara
Organizational change affects teams in specific ways. The formal work continues. The informal connections, the ones built on proximity, shared history, and daily interaction, are what breaks. Amazon’s Santa Clara team came into this event knowing that. The session was designed to address it directly.
The Rescue Bear® was exactly what the group ended up needing. The format is designed for different kinds of contributors. Analytical thinkers, natural communicators, and hands-on builders each to have a role. By the build phase, the group had already practiced working together under pressure. The bears they assembled reflected that.
Tito Alvarez from Live in Peace described the school the organization serves in East Palo Alto. Live in Peace operates in East Palo Alto. The community sits within miles of major tech campuses. It often goes largely invisible to them. The stuffed animals go to children at the school, a small sign that someone outside their community thought of them.
We’d like to thank Amazon for turning a reconnection moment into something that lasted beyond the room.
If you’re planning a team building activity in the San Francisco Bay Area, Rescue Bear might be exactly what you’re looking for!