For more than a year, Brittany Robbins has been adamant about having buddy benches at every elementary school in the community. As a parent of two young boys, she sees the benches as imperative to promoting a mentally and emotionally health future amongst students.
Also known as a friendship bench, the buddy bench is set up in the school yard as a special place for children to sit. It can be a safe place for some children and others will use it to help overcome social anxieties. When a child is on the buddy bench, other children will sit beside them and strike up a conversation. Having a one-on-one conversation often leads to new understanding between students and eventually friendship.
The buddy bench idea has already been implemented with much success at schools across North America.
“The main messages of the buddy bench are inclusion and kindness,” says Robbins, who has been loudly championing the cause in every corner of the community. “While researching ways I could help my own children, I read about the buddy benches being successful in many other places. So I thought to myself, this would really work well here.”
With help from volunteers and friends, Robbins was finally able to have buddy benches made for two Huntsville schools. Plaques for the buddy benches were paid for by the RBC Huntsville Branch employees, while a total of $1,800 was raised via a car wash, bake sale and through RBC Royal Bank grants. In addition to the creation of two benches, some of the proceeds will provide Muskoka Family Focus with funds for Spruce Glen after school program supplies and activities.
In addition to building benches, fundraising proceeds also support Muskoka Family Focus
The buddy benches will be in place when school starts in September. Spruce Glen Public School and V.K. Greer Public School are the beneficiaries of Robbins’ efforts. But, she’s not stopping there: There are a lot of schools across Muskoka who could use a buddy bench.
“Our goal is to raise money each year towards creating more benches so we can have one or two benches at every school in Muskoka,” she says. “With the support of RBC Royal Bank, the team at the Huntsville branch and the community at large, we know we can accomplish our goal.”
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