Being a Buddy

Sammie Vance, 14, knows there’s nothing worse than feeling left out. For years, she’s been helping kids who feel lonely make friends. “There was one little boy at school, younger than me,” she told TIME for Kids. “He would see me in the hallway and give me a thumbs-up, to tell me that what I was doing helped him.”

What she was doing was running the Buddy Bench program. She started it at her school, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when she was in the third grade. The idea was simple: Anyone who was feeling lonely could sit on the “buddy bench.” Then other kids knew someone needed a friend.

FINDING FRIENDS Buddy benches bring kids together and help them make new friends.

“It’s really helpful to have other people be able to notice you,” Sammie says. The idea quickly caught on. The bench brought kids together. Since then, Sammie has helped communities all over the country set up buddy benches. “It means a lot to me,” she says, “that this is making a difference in people’s lives.”

Building A Bench

Sammie got the idea for the Buddy Bench program at summer camp in 2017. She presented the idea to her principal, but getting approval for the project was just the first step. “There have been a lot of small challenges, like money,” Sammie says. She needed to reduce costs. And she needed the bench to be eco-friendly.

BUILDING BENCHES Sammie’s Caps for a Cause drive collects bottle caps for the benches.

Sammie decided to make the bench out of recycled material. She rallied her community. They gathered bottle caps.

Word of the project got out. Soon, Sammie was getting caps from all over. They came from people in all 50 states. She got some from Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries. In the end, she collected more than 1,200 pounds of bottle caps and she turned to a company called GreenTree Plastics. They upcycled them into three benches.

UPCYCLING These bags are filled with plastic lids and caps, which are used to make buddy benches.

Sammie says the effort has helped her. “I used to be really, really shy,” she says. “I’m definitely more outgoing now.” She has also learned to respect her limits. She knows when to take breaks.

Making a Difference

Now Sammie helps other schools. She has donated more than 200 benches. They’re at schools and parks all around the country. “We recently got a bench in Ghana, Africa,” she says. “That was cool.”

TELLING HER STORY Sammie’s book, Inspire the World, tells the story of her buddy bench project.

Sammie’s work shows that helping people in your community can start at any age. “You don’t have to be an adult to make a difference,” she says. Even small acts of kindness can be powerful. “It can make someone’s day and lead to a chain reaction,” she says. “You never know. Just be kind, in general.”

Feeling Inspired?

Next month, we’ll feature kids who are fighting food insecurity. Could you be one of them? Click here for ideas on how you can ease hunger in your community.