Maine third grader dedicates ‘buddy bench’ to 9-year-old who died in April
“This bench is a place for anyone to go that is feeling lonely, left out, sad, or angry."
After Maine third grader Brayden Madore died in April, one of his classmates wanted to help fill the void left by the loss.
Then-second grader Traeh Cloutier was talking about friendship with his mom, according to a Facebook post from Leeds Central School, and she asked him if there was a place on the playground where students could go to show other students they wanted or needed a friend. There wasn’t, he said.
So Traeh set out to draw a picture of a new place to be added to the playground: a buddy bench. He and his dad drew the bench together, and then they went to his principal with the idea.
With the help of the Green Youth Athletic Association, the bench was designed and brought to Green Central School. When asked if he wanted to dedicate the bench to Braden, the 9-year-old who had died, Traeh didn’t hesitate to say yes.
The bench, which features engraving that reads “In memory of Brayden Madore,” was dedicated last week at a ceremony at the school’s playground.
After the ceremony, a speech about Brayden was read at a school-wide assembly.
“This bench is a place for anyone to go that is feeling lonely, left out, sad, or angry,” it read in part. “You can go there if you need a friend. Someone will see you sitting there and come over to talk to you and do something to make you feel better. Just like Brayden always did.”
Read the full speech here:
Our friend, Brayden Madore, was an amazing, wonderful friend to everyone. He was kind to everybody, he had feelings for everybody, and he did everything he could to make everybody happy. One example of this is when our class read Stone Fox. When we got to the sad ending, Brayden went around to everyone to see if they needed a hug and a tissue. Another example is when we made ice cream and made a humongous mess he went around to help everyone else clean up. Brayden was always looking for ways to help teachers and students. It was impossible to feel lonely or sad when he was around you.
For these reasons and so many more, we would like to tell you about the Brayden Madore Buddy Bench that is out on our playground. This bench is a place for anyone to go that is feeling lonely, left out, sad, or angry. You can go there if you need a friend. Someone will see you sitting there and come over to talk to you and do something to make you feel better. Just like Brayden always did.
If you see someone else sitting alone on the bench, please go over to them and be a friend. That may mean listening to their problems, find out how they are feeling, asking them to play with you, or just making them smile. We want every student at Greene Central to feel included, appreciated, and cared about.
This bench is in honor of Brayden. It should be respected and taken care of always. We promise we will keep it clean and neat. We would like you to all promise to use it appropriately, not play on it, or disrespect it. We will use this as a place to go and remember our friend Brayden and out of respect for him and us, we want it to remain a special place.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Brayden Madore’s Family and Friends
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