WE DELIVERED DECEMBER 29, 2021!! YAY!
From Maddie's Mom...
Ambassadors made BAFP history with peer support for "Maddie"!! For the first time EVER, we sent TWO BINS of "friend mail" to one Recipient!! MADDIE'S FINAL FRIEND MAIL STATS include 1,074 Letters, 2 videos (including from Iain Armitage!!) and - the reason for the two bins - A RECORD-BREAKING AMOUNT OF SMALL GIFTS totaling 340 "gift points"!!!!
Check out this slideshow of pictures of Maddie's delivery and we included some of the Letter-Writing Event pics:
~ Maddie's Story was posted in November 2021 ~
"New kid" (12) with "most generous heart" asks "what am I doing wrong?" after severe verbal, social, cyber bullying and physical threats.
Maddie is a very creative 6th Grader from Ohio who loves Do-It-Yourself projects, art and baking. Her mom says the 12-year-old is the best baker in the house serving up family favorites like chocolate oatmeal cookies and banana-nut bread. Maddie "has the most kind, generous heart of anyone" her mom has ever met, child or grown-up, and is a "very good big sister" to her brother, a Kindergartener.
In fact, when her little brother came home upset because he had picked a mismatched award for good work from the school's Prize Box, Maddie encouraged him to give the pink shoelaces with red hearts (that he didn't want) to a girl in his class - and told him she'd have a new surprise for him if he did! The next day, Maddie earned the chance to pick two awards from her class Prize Box, and she chose both for her little brother, keeping her word and making him happy. That's the awesome kind of person Maddie is... so, being the target of severe verbal, social and cyber bullying has left her devastated and asking her mom, "What's wrong with me?"
According to her mom, the family has moved a lot and being the "new kid" has a lot to do with her difficulty in making friends - especially in a small town where everyone knows each other, the "new kid" label sticks. At Maddie's previous elementary school, she experienced some bullying, but in 4th Grade, when the family moved to their current town in Ohio, it started again with the kids in her new neighborhood. They excluded her from playing with them on the street, and called her names for being "tall." Now, it breaks her mom's heart to see Maddie looking out the window watching the other kids play.
At the bus stop, another adult overheard a boy physically threaten Maddie, saying "I really want to go punch her in the face right now." Maddie's parents reached out to the other parents, and the Principal got involved, but it didn't help; the bullying quickly carried over from the neighborhood into the school building where "social bullying" tactics spread and has left Maddie without any true friends.
Like all of us, Maddie gets ecstatic when she begins to make a new friend... but in her experience, the "friend" will soon pair up with another girl and they begin to make fun of her. Recently, one girl she thought was becoming her friend invited another girl to their Facetime. Soon, they began making jokes about Maddie. When she signed off, they posted a Snapchat video to EVERYONE saying "Maddie, I hope you die," leaving the 6th Grader in tears asking, "What am I doing wrong? Why can't I make friends?" When this kind child gets overwhelmed by the random cruelty, Maddie secludes herself in her room and tells her parents, "no one bother me."
A YOUTUBE INTRODUCTION OF MADDIE by our On-Air Super Teen Ambassador, Brielle Withers, is a good choice for young students to learn Maddie's story:
AMBASSADORS, Maddie's bullying is on-going. She is finding some strength from therapy and her family's support, but IT'S UP TO US NOW TO DELIVER THE PEER SUPPORT!!
Let's show this generous and kind 12-year-old that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH HER and that she is FRIEND STRONG!! Maddie always asks for baking supplies for Christmas, but if we time this right with a firm due date of December 17th, we can get some inspirational FRIEND MAIL under her tree, too!!
"CHANGE ONE LIFE AND YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. IT'S IN YOUR HANDS!"
THE DUE DATE FOR MADDIE'S LETTERS IS DECEMBER 17TH - FIRM!!
Friend Mail must arrive in our NY office for review by the Due Date to be included in her holiday surprise delivery!
Mail "PHYSICAL" letters to:
Be A Friend Project
P.O. Box 30
Beacon, NY 12508
Email letters, videos, scans & Google Drive links, send to:
jennifer@beafriendproject.org
-OR-
