Third Graders Raise $593 for Friendship Bench Campaign

When Brielle stood before the Bar Harbor School Committee, she delivered a message that would make most adults pause. "When you can't find kindness, happiness, or hope—be it," the third grader said, launching a campaign to bring compassion back to her school playground.

Her classmates at Conners Emerson School weren't just talking about kindness. They were funding it themselves.

The students wanted to replace a friendship bench that had been destroyed during recent school construction. These special benches serve a simple but powerful purpose: when a student sits there, it signals they want someone to play with.

"A friendship bench is a bench that brings people together using kindness," student Henry explained to school officials. The original bench, installed in 2014, had created real connections before construction removed the playground.

Instead of waiting for adults to fix the problem, the third graders did the research and found a replacement bench online for $508. Then they got creative about fundraising.

Working in small groups, the students designed stickers, magnets, shirts, and hats with messages like "Spread kindness like peanut butter" and "Friendship is like jelly donuts. It's sweet." They sold their products online and at a school movie night.

The campaign quickly spread beyond Bar Harbor. Family and friends ordered their designs from Massachusetts to Texas, and the students watched their artwork appear on cars around town.

By presentation day, they had raised $592.72, surpassing their goal. A local parent even offered to donate wood slabs if the school preferred a handmade bench.

Sunny's Take

Principal Dr. Heather Webster told the students she'd never seen anything like their initiative. One student shared a memory that captures why the bench matters: she once saw a lonely classmate sit on the original friendship bench, and before she could walk over, another student had already gotten there first.

The bench had worked exactly as intended, creating moments of inclusion without adult intervention. These third graders are betting it will work again, and they've put their creativity and effort where their hearts are.

Their teacher Meryl Sweeney watched her students transform a morning discussion about "being the sunshine" into tangible action. In a world full of serious challenges, these kids chose to focus on what they could control: making their playground a kinder place, one bench at a time.

The new playground will have its friendship bench, funded entirely by students who proved that even third graders can turn compassion into community change.