Spreading Kindness

Buddy Benches Encourage Kids To Be Friends with Others

Hana Hutchison first started creating buddy benches as a project with her Girl Scouts troop when she was in the eighth grade. The idea was simple — give kids a place to go when they need a friend.

“The idea of a buddy bench is that when someone needs a friend or is sad or needs someone to play with, they can go sit on the bench, and they know that a friend will come up to them and talk to them, and they can go play,” Hana says. “It’s really just all about spreading kindness and being compassionate to others.”

Hana, now a senior at Enterprise High School, was recently selected as one of this year’s Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass. She started the local Friendship Foundation as a way to continue providing buddy benches to elementary schools. She speaks to students about the importance of being kind to one another and being a friend to others. Her father, Bill Hutchison, helps her build the buddy benches. Her mother, Stacy Hutchison, says they are proud of what Hana is doing.

“The PE teachers really talk about how the kids will actually use the benches in the way they’re supposed to,” Stacy Hutchison says. “They know you don’t go sit on the bench unless you’re being bullied or you’re having a problem and don’t have a friend.”

Buddy benches are now located at Brookwood, Holly Hill and Pinedale elementary schools in Enterprise, as well as the Little Saints Playground at First Methodist Church in Enterprise.

Hana did not expect to continue the buddy bench project past her time in Girl Scouts, but the reaction from students encouraged her to keep going.

“I realized it was something I was passionate about, and I did want to continue because I saw the difference in the kids,” Hana says. “It was so rewarding to see that, so I knew I wanted to keep doing it for as long as I could.”

Silent Heroes of the Wiregrass is a program created through a partnership between Wiregrass Electric Cooperative (WEC) and WTVY to honor people who give back to their community and help others. Recipients receive a $1,000 award.

WEC Vice President of Member Services and Communication Stevie Sauls says it has been wonderful to learn of the great things Hana has done with the Friendship Foundation.

“It’s a blessing to have something like this where kids are encouraged to come together and build new friendships and camaraderie,” Sauls says. “It is honorable for Hana to have the desire to contribute to that and the initiative as well to make it come to fruition.”