Community Donates Teddy Bears for Pa. First Responders to Give to Traumatized Children

June 23--When Louann Starr's daughter was injured in a car accident, first responders gave the girl a stuffed animal to help calm her.

"It was really a big help," Starr said.

So when Starr's employer, S&T Bank, announced that it would be collecting teddy bears to donate to first responders throughout Westmoreland County, Starr thought it was a wonderful idea.

That idea, "Bears for Babes," originated with an S&T employee at the bank's Derry branch, according to human resources Vice President George Basara.

"From time to time, employees will come to our employee-services department with an idea. And this one really struck us and we thought, 'We can do that,'" Basara said.

S&T regularly allows employees to take a paid day off to perform volunteer and community-service work.

"We're very involved with our communities," Basara said.

After putting the word out for employees to consider donating a stuffed bear in May, the month-long promotion resulted in more than 200 bears, which will be sent out this week to branch offices, where employees like Starr will coordinate the distribution to local emergency responders.

Starr, who works out of the Penn Township branch, plans to give bears to Penn Township police and ambulance workers along with Claridge, Harrison City, Grandview, Paintertown and Level Green firefighters.

Murrysville Medic One spokesman Matt Stromberg, who has a background in psychology, said the bears provide a lot of comfort to children who have witnessed a traumatic event.

"We used to do this in the school district," Stromberg said. "I also used to keep some in my office for doing therapy in Murrysville as well. It's a great idea and a great thing for them to do."

While first responders like ambulance crews are typically occupied with treating patients, Stromberg said that at a fire scene medics would be able to distribute the bears in between health checks on firefighters.

"I've seen them used a lot when someone like a social worker comes in to speak with kids," he said. "And the police, I'm sure at times, could use them. ... I think it's a great concept."

Starr agreed.

"I'm very involved with Toys for Tots over the past 15 years, and whenever I saw the message about this program, I thought it was great," she said. "I'm really happy that S&T allows us to do this."

Fire departments in Murrysville, Delmont and Export will all be among the groups to receive donated bears. Basara said it is all part of the bank's commitment to the communities it serves.

"Our employees are the best," he said. "When we make a call to ask them to do something charitable, the response is really quite refreshing."

He said it is likely to continue as an annual program.

"Whenever we start these things we notice that the first time it can be pretty good, but the second time, it's really good because the word has gotten out," Basara said.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

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