Longboater knits 2,500 stuffed bears to give away to charity

Longboat Key resident Dolores Engelke is known as "the bear lady." Not because of any affinity for the large, furry animals, but rather the miniature cuddly ones she creates herself. 

Engelke, 90, knits football-sized teddy bears by hand, and then gives them away freely to anyone and everyone as a way of sharing joy. 

Through her hobby, which she began in 2016, she has spread this joy to more than 2,500 people, ranging from people she meets around town to larger donations she makes to a variety of nonprofits and local organizations. 

“It’s a comfort for me to knit,” said Engelke. “Just the act of putting something together makes me feel accomplished.”

Since her childhood, Engelke felt a strong connection to teddy bears and always preferred them to all other toys. If you walk into her bedroom today, you see subtle themes of bears scattered throughout. Most of the gifts that she received usually relate to bears in some way.

But when she started knitting, she wasn't thinking about bears. She was focused on healing. Her neighbor taught her how to knit as a way to pass the time while she recovered from back surgery. She started by knitting afghans. It would take her about two-and-a-half weeks to finish one.

Photo by Petra Rivera

Soon after that, it became a part of her daily routine, a comfort to keep her grounded. Engelke said she can’t watch television without her knitting needles. She will also knit while sitting in the car since she can’t drive anymore.

Once he daughter heard of her new hobby, she sent Engelke a pattern to knit a bear because she knew her mother would enjoy it. She never made an afghan again.

After many years, Engelke has a routine down, but that does not mean each bear is the same. Every day, she will look in her box of yarn and pick different colors than the day before to avoid repetition. It will take her about five to six hours throughout the day to finish one bear.

“If I don’t finish a bear, I feel like I’ve wasted the day away," said Engelke.

Engelke has given boxes of bears away to the Red Cross, the U.S. Ambulance Corps, the Christ Child Society, Solve Maternity Homes and several pediatric wards. She even knitted a box full for her dentist's office to give away. Her friends persuaded her to send the bears globally. Engelke’s fellow parishioner of St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church Ginny Akhoury shipped some of her bears to children in Paraguay. 

Along with giving her bears away for charity, Engelke is constantly giving them to people she knows. Friends, neighbors and loved ones from home have all asked her for bears for their grandchildren. Each of her family members has their own special bear. Her daughter will send her photos of her bears dressed up for different holidays. 

Engelke’s work is such a family affair that before her husband died, he would hug and kiss every bear as it went out to the multiple nonprofits where they were donated. This was his way of solidifying the love she stitched into them.

One day when she was in an ice cream shop, Engelke remembers overhearing a child crying. She couldn’t help but run to her car to grab a bear to give to him. He immediately stopped crying once he received the bear.

Recently, she was speaking with the man who was fixing the air conditioning at her condominium. After seeing her bears, he couldn’t help but ask for one. When she asked if he was giving it to a child, he told her it would ride alongside him in his truck every day.

Courtesy image

Another day, she had given away a box full of bears to a nonprofit. She overheard the lady speaking to the bears as she walked away, “You are all going to good homes.” Now, Engelke loves to repeat this before she gives away another bear. 

Her favorite bear story goes further than the ones she has given away locally.

When Engelke’s husband was in the hospital, she passed the time there by knitting her bears. One day, a nurse saw her knitting and shared that she had one of her bears. Her mother was a member of St. Marys and had picked one up for her when she was on Longboat. Engelke was amazed at how she had run into someone who owned one of her bears but had never met them before.

She marveled at the coincidence that that nurse was working the same weekend she was there. 

“What were the odds that she'd be on the same floor on the weekend that my husband was a patient there?" said Engelke. "I thought that was pretty incredible the bears have traveled so far and impacted people I never thought would have one.”