SAN MARCOS, Texas – A toy from Wisconsin played a crucial role in the relationship the San Marcos community formed with a one-year-old girl and her family.
“Everywhere in her baby book is Woody,” said Shaunna Tello, the girl’s mother. “(The) girl has been obsessed with him since she was like four months old … no lie.”
Gia was on a road trip with her family when she lost her best friend, Woody, in San Marcos and couldn’t find him before returning home.
Woody has been a part of every chapter and every memory in little Gia’s life.
She and her buddy have traveled all over the country, including recently when her family took a trip from Wisconsin to the Lone Star State.
“Anywhere west of the Mississippi, we tried to stop, and Woody came was right there with us,” Tello said. “Having him and taking pictures with him helps create these memories that Gia may not remember later on, but can look back and see all the places they’ve been.”
The family visited attractions in California, Utah, North and South Dakota and Arizona, but when they got to San Marcos, Texas, Woody disappeared.
“Gia was knocked out sleeping, so we got Woody and snapped a picture of him at one of the mermaid statues,” Tello said. “I could have sworn I picked him back up,” she laughed. “Later that evening, she is trying to go to bed, and she is yelling, ‘Oody!’ She can’t say Woody right now, so she says Oody. Then I realized, ‘Where’s Woody?”
The family ripped up everything, trying to find Woody, and had no luck.
“I was on a mission to (find) her Woody,” Tello said. “I didn’t want a new one; I needed that one. Gia was crying and moping because she lost her best friend.”
While still on the trip, Tello tried to help keep Gia in a positive spirit by buying Woody’s TV best friend.
“We went to the Tanger Outlets at the Disney store and got a Buzz Lightyear,” she said. “She kept going, ‘Oody Oody Oody!’ She wanted nothing to do with Buzz. She wanted Woody.”
The family made it back to Wisconsin, and Tello said her motherly instincts kicked into search and rescue mode for Woody.
“I posted on social media, I called new(s) stations,” Tello said. “I was going to find that doll. As a parent, you want the best for your child, and I wanted to give that back to Gia.”
Tello’s post on Facebook went viral, and before she knew it, Visit San Marcos had located Woody.
“I was floored,” she said. “I reached out to them before, and they said they couldn’t find him, but when I reached out again online, they were like he is in the truck. I was thinking, ‘What! You got to be kidding me.’”
Visit San Marcos made sure to give Woody a good time, showing him around the different attractions in a solo adventure.
“He had a really good time,” said Sarah Smith, the marketing specialist. “He went to the river, saw the mermaids, went on tour, and he put back a ton of chips and salsa.”
They even sent Woody back with several San Marcos goodies to show Gia he was safe, had a good time and was ready to get home.
“It was really fun being a part of a little girl’s imagination and having fun and being creative with this,” Smith said. “It brought all these people together to find Woody. I just want Gia to know, she left a lasting impact on us, and I hope we did the same for her.”
Between Sept. 3 and Sept. 16, Gia had no idea her best friend would be headed back to the city of Durand.
“As soon as that flap of the box started to open and you saw Woody, she yelled, ‘Woody!’ We got Woody out of her and not Oody. She held up the doll like it was a triumphant moment, and that made my day. They sent her a card back, talking about how Woody went on a great adventure, but that it was time to come home because he missed her. San Marcos made a little girl’s dream come true, her heart not be broken, and my family will forever be in San Marcos’s debt.”
