Shulamit Bastacky believed that every child should have a teddy bear.
As a child during the Holocaust, Bastacky was hidden from the Nazis by a nun in her native Poland. She spent the first several years of her life isolated and without much human touch. Neither did she have a favorite stuffed animal to bring her comfort.
Her childhood experiences moved Bastacky, who died Jan. 1, to launch Shulamit’s Teddy Bear Project, collecting toys for children in need.
Scott Vensel, an eighth-grade language arts teacher, recalled the first time he brought Bastacky, a frequent speaker at schools, to Dorseyville Middle School in the Fox Chapel Area School District.