When Las Vegas third grader Phoenix Pyle heard a girl crying in the bathroom because no one would play with her, she offered her comfort—then made it her mission that this never happens to anyone else!
Phoenix Pyle was washing her hands in the Ober Elementary bathroom when she heard crying from inside a stall.
“What’s wrong?” she asked the upset second-grader.
“No one wants to play with me,” the little girl sniffled.
Phoenix took the little girl by the hand. “Come on,” she invited. “I’ll play with you.”
Soon, the two girls were side by side on the monkey bars, swinging and laughing with all the other kids at recess. But Phoenix couldn’t stop thinking about the little girl’s tears.
If I hadn’t come into the bathroom, I never would have known she needed a friend, Phoenix thought. She had felt that kind of loneliness herself—and guessed other kids had, too.
“There should be a spot on the playground where kids can go if they don’t have someone to play with — so other kids will know,” she told her mom after school. “I’d offer to play, and I bet other kids would, too.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Laquel Harris told her daughter, and when they got home, Phoenix dashed to her room and pulled out her art supplies.
“It’s a Buddy Bench,” she explained, holding up her drawing. “If you sit there, it means you need someone to play with.”
Phoenix Pyle
A mission of love
Phoenix wanted to use her allowance to pay someone to build the bench. But when Laquel looked into it, she was disheartened to learn that the school would only approve a Buddy Bench made from durable materials and coated with non-toxic paint that could withstand years of harsh weather — at a cost of more than $2,500.
Undeterred, with her mom’s help, Phoenix launched a Go Fund Me campaign asking her friends, family and neighbors to support their Buddy Bench.
Contributions trickled in — $10 and $20 at a time. “This is going to take forever,” Phoenix worried. So she reached out to a local reporter. When the article ran, donations to her GoFundMe picked up. But even better, a local small business owner named Luis Perez contacted the reporter with an incredible offer: He would build the Buddy Bench himself. “He already has the materials,” the reporter told Phoenix. “All he needs is permission to get started.”
A few weeks later, Phoenix and her mom were called to the principal’s office. “We have something to show you,” they said, then led Phoenix outside to the school playground. There, in a sunny patch of grass, stood the brand-new Buddy Bench.
“It looks just like I drew it!” Phoenix exclaimed. Then she turned to the man who made it possible: “Thanks, Mr. Perez!”
Almost immediately, several fifth-graders brought video gear to interview Phoenix as she explained, “If you see someone on the Buddy Bench, it means they need a friend to play with.” That day, the video was broadcast on the school’s TV channel.
Phoenix’s classmates cheered, and later at recess, a few kids sat on the Buddy Bench. But they weren’t there for long because that day, and the day after, everyone had a friend.
Phoenix then used the donations to pay for a bench at another elementary school. She says, “Everybody needs a buddy.”
