In just three days, a student at Woodland Heights Elementary School in Brownwood raised enough funds to complete her goal of buying a Buddy Bench so that no one would be without a friend on the playground at her school.
Kate Green, pictured left, is an outgoing 7-year-old on a mission to end loneliness and ensure everyone on the playground at her school has a friend. The school yard can be a scary place for kids who have a hard time making friends. For some children, the prospect of approaching a group of their classmates to ask, “Can I play, too?” can seem pretty daunting especially if you are new to school, struggle with Autism or just having a rough day. That’s why Kate embraced the idea of raising funds for a “buddy bench.”
Through a GoFundMe page and by selling popsicles at a local park, Kate raised $950 through generous donations from supporters, which was more than her original goal of $750 to purchase the bench. The additional money received over the goal will be donated to Woodland Heights Elementary.
Kate first heard of the idea in March, when she came across a news story about a buddy bench that had been added to the school grounds at a school in Saskatchewan, Canada. Sitting on the edge of the playground at Willowgrove Elementary, the bench gives students who might be feeling lonely or left out a place to go.Kate says the buddy bench is “where, if you can’t find your best friends and you don’t know where to go to play, you sit on the buddy bench and someone will come find you and they’ll include you in their game.”
The bench helps kids “find friends easily when you’re lonely and you don’t have, like, anyone to play with at recess,” she adds and hopes it helps others feel more at home on the playground.
Proud of Kate’s success, her mother Randee Green stated, “Compassion, empathy, community: Things that need to start at home, and be reinforced in the classroom and on the playground. A buddy bench probably won’t suddenly solve all of kids’ problems, but it seems to be a wonderful step in the right direction.”
Pictured above is Woodland Heights student Kate Green. Below is a photo of a Buddy Bench.
