Fourteen-year-old Temecula resident Jason O'Neill is taking the phrase "come bearing gifts" to heart.

Several months ago, the young entrepreneur embarked on a mission to spread a little joy this holiday season by collecting money through his business's Web site to buy teddy bears for Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.

He started with a goal of 250 stuffed animals, but now his home is crammed with bags of teddy bears waiting to be delivered ---- 1,800 of all shapes, sizes and colors.

Big ones, little ones, brown ones, blue ones. Some with Santa hats, others that look like Winnie the Pooh. The bounty is thanks to the generosity and giving spirit of others, who donated $5,130 to buy all the bears, Jason said.

"I just want to thank everyone that donated," Jason said. "We'd be very fortunate to give 250, but 1,800 is amazing."

Jason owns a company that makes Pencil Bugs, colorful pencil toppers with googley eyes and antennas sold at pencilbugs.com, among other places. He founded it at age 9, and has always set aside money for charitable giving.

In August, Jason put out the call to friends, family, customers and others on Twitter.com and Facebook.com to help him with his Christmas teddy bear fundraiser.

"It stinks to be in a hospital at all, but if you are stuck in a hospital during Christmas, it's even worse, so I wanted to do something for the kids," said Jason, an eighth-grader at Rancho Community Christian School.

His initial effort mustered a great response, enough to buy 400 bears. But then MSN.com ran a story on his effort, and donations started pouring in from around the country.

"We didn't expect his project to explode as it did," said Nancy O'Neill, Jason's mom. "People not only donated, but wrote letters and e-mails of why they thought it was so great. People would say how their child was in the hospital and how someone gave their child a bear once and stuff like that. It was pretty amazing."

The donations came from near and far.

Three students in Michigan held a bake sale and ended up giving their proceeds, $118, to the cause. Several military members serving in Iraq and Japan also donated, she said.

Jason's deadline for accepting donations was Dec. 1. These past two weeks, the O'Neills have been putting tags on each bear with the name of a donor and Jason's.

Jason's company paid for all shipping costs and PayPal expenses, so all the money donated for the cause was used to buy the bears.

The stuffed animals are set to be delivered Friday. Jason said he is not allowed to deliver any of the bears to patients personally, but that's all right.

The hospital has 250 beds, but surprisingly its officials are expecting to run through the 1,800 teddy bears rather quickly, Nancy O'Neill said.

That's because they often give stuffed animals to the siblings of patients so they don't feel left out, she said.

Although Jason has never been seriously ill in the hospital, Nancy O'Neill said she is not surprised her son came up with this idea.

"He is very caring and sensitive, more than a lot of boys," she said. "When he started his business and started making money, we talked about doing some charity things. He was only 9 years old at the time."

Even at a young age, Jason knew what type of philanthropy he wanted to support, she said.

"One of the things he decided was that he didn't want his money to go to paying for peoples' salaries in a charitable organization, so we've always made sure the money he's donated has gone directly to those who deserve it," she said.

Jason gives to charity every quarter, but is already brainstorming for next year's Christmas fundraiser. He said he will probably announce his plans in July, so there is plenty of time for people to pitch in.

"Every Christmas I want to do something really big," he said.