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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
To watch the women building bears in the Wellesley Community Center, you would think it’s as simple as stuffing a few pieces of stitched fabric together. However, some of these women have been making these bears for years, and what is actually an incredibly labor-intensive project has begun to look easy in their hands. The Teddy Bear Project was started at least twenty years ago by a woman who is now in her mid-90s. No one present knew how long the project had actually been going on for, but they all agreed it was a very long time.
The bears go to causes all over the country and beyond. “I know we send some to Appalachia. We send some to Framingham. They also go to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital,” one woman explained. “Some may go to Syria, if we can find the time to drop them off.” They pointed out a picture of a little boy from Guatemala who had received a bear. “We sent some to the Japan during the tsunami, so we have some very international bears!” She added.
While the locations of the bears change depending on who has a need or a want, one location that remains consistent is Camp Sunshine. This camp is for the children and families of children who have cancer, and every year, they send a bag up to them. “We send them really to wherever they need something to love,” another woman added.
Another woman sat, stitching the nose on to a mostly finished bear. “It takes me about 10 or 15 minutes just to the nose! Then there’s the ‘tummy-tuck’, the sewing, the cutting… all and all I’d say that from scratch it takes about three hours to do, and that doesn’t include the sweaters!” She explained. The sweaters themselves can take up to three hours to finish.
While the group meets every week from September through May on Wednesdays, many of them do work at home. “I like to watch TV while I do – I have to have something that makes it seem like I’m not totally binging!” One woman chimed in.
There are about thirteen regulars who show up week to week, but some contribute without ever coming, such as those who sew the sweaters. Overall, the group produces about 12 per week, resulting in around 225 per years. The group is incredibly welcoming of anyone who would like to join in. In May, they invite eight sixth graders to come and volunteer to help fulfill their community service requirement. Not only do the bears help those in need, but they help facilitate cross-generational mixing.
