Kindness needed for traumatized 1st Grader, Bryce! Delivered December 2024!! 💝

Bryce received his Friend Mail support, joy and love at home in Oklahoma on December 23rd. Bryce's Aunt Connie says he is taking his time reading thoughtfully through every letter and says "it's just like the best Christmas present!" Thank you to all our ambassadors who have brought smiles, joy and confidence to this child scarred inside and out by bullies. Bryce, you are FRIEND STRONG!

Watch the uplifting Videos-of-Support sent to Bryce!❤️💌

~ Bryce's Story ~

Overwhelmed by his stitches and scars from bullying, Oklahoma boy asks, "Do I have to wear these to heaven?"

Aunt Connie says her "intelligent, loving and very thoughtful" nephew had already survived unimaginable heartbreak and abuse before she became his guardian 3 years ago. Today, just turned 7 in September, all Bryce wants is for everyone "to be nice." Instead, his first school year brought more hurt, this time from kindergarten classmates who bullied him.

Bryce loves to read, writes his own books, designs games and acts them out to review them before creating the stories and characters on electronic platforms. Aunt Connie says her sweet boy collects just about everything, like figurines, legos and especially little stuffed pugs (all of which, he says, have names, souls and feelings.) Among his most cherished collections are his stacks of saved instruction pamphlets. 😍 He recently earned a patch and yellow belt in Taekwondo; his favorite part of the class is the "bowing" tradition of respect.

Bryce just wants everyone to be nice! 🐈💕

Bryce blamed himself when the bullying started in kindergarten. He told his Aunt Connie, "I shouldn't have sat on that bench when they said they didn't want me there." He just wanted to be friends so bad... but instead, they shoved him off the playground bench to the concrete and broke his glasses. That caused one of multiple trips to the hospital emergency room and first aid stations during his kindergarten year from November to March 2024. He was beaten with a stick in the back of the head. Another time, he was hit so hard in the face, his teeth cut through his bottom lip.

The kindergarten bullies also called him names like "nerd" because of his glasses and being slightly cross-eyed. Bryce is very curious and inquisitive, and can talk like an adult, yet he is very shy. Bullies make fun of his hand movements which are just a normal part of being what his family calls "SUPERTISTIC" with autism, and also, following his traumatic start to life, ADHD, ODD and PTSD.

In March, Aunt Connie told Fox23 News reporter, Alex Cash, that she felt "like I have to put him in Taekwondo just to go to kindergarten to protect himself ... that's just not something that I ever would have thought in my life ... we have to do better, we just can't blame all the bullying on the kids .... There are preventative measures that we as adults need to do."

Now, Bryce's loving permanent guardian is feeling hopeful that being enrolled in a new gifted & talented program for 1st Grade, taekwondo and therapy is bringing a change and some healing. Bryce is excited to be going to a program where "kids act like him," and so far, he reports incredulously that "everyone is nice to me!"

WATCH A YOUTUBE OF BRYCE'S STORY HERE!

by On-Air Teen Vlogger, Brielle Diaz Withers, with Guest Vlogger, Mariama Diop!

Ambassadors, oh my gosh, let's send this adorable little boy who LOVES TO READ so much Friend Mail that it will become his favorite collection, better than instruction pamphlets!! 😁🙏🏼💝

Your words, videos, art or gifts of peer support will help Bryce heal from so much trauma and replace years of pain with overwhelming friendship, love, joy and hope!

You WILL make a difference! Together we can normalize "kids being kids" to mean they are being kind and inclusive!"

EVERY LETTER IS A GIFT.

THE MORE SUPPORT, THE GREATER THE IMPACT.