Sammie Vance challenges us to reconsider how we make others feel included. Let’s learn how what we discard can be recycled to create things that bring us together.
Sammie Vance challenges us to reconsider how we make others feel included. Let’s learn how what we discard can be recycled to create things that bring us together.
Learn more about Sammie by visiting sammiesbuddybenchproject.com.
And check out Season 2, Episode 3 of the Sammie Smiles podcast “Sammie Interviews Leo Abelo Perry” by visiting https://sammiesbuddybenchproject.com/sammie-smiles-podcast/2021/11/7/s2-e3-sammie-interviews-leo-abelo-perry.
Other resources mentioned:
Green Tree Plastics - https://www.greentreeplastics.com
The Activators
S1 EP10, Sammie Vance and Sammie’s Buddy Bench Project
[INTRODUCTION]
Leo: Welcome to The Activators!: A Kids Podcast About Activism.
I’m your host, Leo Abelo Perry!
On this podcast, we want to celebrate and amplify kids who are activating social change by using what they love to spread more love. Social change means providing opportunities for people and communities to recognize what’s wrong and do something about it, for the betterment of humanity.
And on today’s show we’re talking to Sammie Vance, the namesake of Sammie’s Buddy Bench Project.
But first, how are you today, on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being “things are rough” and 5 being “I don’t know how good you’re doing”?
I’d say I’m a 5.
No matter how you’re feeling, it’s all okay. I’m glad that you’re here with me today.
And did you know doing a self-check can help you to understand how ready you are to learn new things or meet new people.
For now, you can just sit back, relax, and get ready to be inspired.
[MEET SAMMIE VANCE]
Leo: It’s the final episode of our first season of The Activators! And today’s guest is Sammie Vance, the creator of Sammie’s Buddy Bench Project.
When Sammie first heard about buddy benches, she was inspired.
And when her mom shared about a local recycling company that turns recycled plastic caps and lids into benches, she was called to action.
Creating that first bench has since led to hundreds of benches made from recycled bottle caps and installed throughout the country!
While you listen, think about simple actions we can take to include others. And think how something as simple as a bottle cap can bring so many people together to help.
Here’s my interview with Sammie Vance.
[INTERVIEW WITH SAMMIE VANCE]
Leo: Hi, Sammie, how are you doing today?
Sammie: Hi Leo. I'm good. How about you?
Leo: Good, you know. It’s… Thursday. So, can you tell us your name and your age?
Sammie: Hi, I'm Sammie Vance. I am 12 years old and I'm in seventh grade.
Leo: Cool. How are you feeling? One to five, one being, I, I can't even imagine, five being off the charts?
Sammie: Um, I would say a 4.5.
Leo: Hmm I like it. Okay. What are some of your favorite hobbies to do?
Sammie: Um, I love to read and write and draw and just hang out with my friends in general. I think, I don't know if it's necessarily hobbies, but I love doing that. And I also love drama.
Yeah, so I haven't had many many opportunities to, like, perform in the past, but I'm a part of drama club this year for school and I was last year as well. So I'm really excited for that. And yeah, I do like acting and stuff and performing.
Leo: What is your favorite book?
Sammie: My favorite book. Um, I have a lot, there's so many books that I love. I love inspirational books, like I am Malala and also a lot of sci fi books, like the Divergent series, Hunger Games, Maze Runner, just all those.
Leo: Cool. Cool, cool, cool. What are you trying to do to change the world?
Sammie: Uh, so to change the world, I guess I have a project called Sammie's Buddy Bench Project. And for those of you that don't know, a Buddy Bench is a place for when somebody is lonely, so they can sit on the Buddy Bench and another person can come up to them and ask them to play, and they can play together.
Um, we did this in a unique way because we collected plastic caps and lids to make these benches. So that way it would be helping the environment, helping friendships, and helping bring the community closer together while collecting the caps.
Leo: Yeah! So Sammie, where did the idea of Buddy Benches come from?
Sammie: So I'm not the first person to actually come up with the idea of a Buddy Bench or as some people call it a Friendship Bench. I heard about it when I was about eight years old and, uh, going into third grade, and I thought that it was a good idea because I was lonely myself, and I didn't want other people to feel that way, because it's not a good feeling.
So I went to my mom about it. Uh, about the idea. And, uh, she did her research and eventually found a company down in Evansville, Indiana called Green Tree Plastics, and they take the caps and turn them into benches. So we thought that we could do the buddy benches in this way. Uh, so that way it would be helping the environment and friendships.
Sammie: To make the benches are specifically plastic caps and lids that go into the benches. So anything from water bottles to laundry, detergents caps, toothpaste caps, there are so many. And the reason that the company actually does the plastic caps and lids is because, uh, they used to not be able to be recycled.
So this is a way that that can be accomplished.
Leo: Sammie, how many caps does it take to build a Buddy Bench?
Sammie: It takes...
Leo: Actually, before Sammie tells us, why don’t you take a guess? And while you’re guessing, we’re going to take a quick break.
I wonder if there are any plastic bottle caps or lids in our recycling?
I'm going to go check.
We’ll be right back.
[BREAK]
Leo: Welcome back to The Activators!
And my conversation with Sammie Vance.
Sammie mentioned before break that the Green Tree Plastics company in Evansville, Indiana takes plastic bottle caps and lids and turns them into benches.
Can you guess how many caps and lids it takes to make a single bench?
Sammie It takes 200 pounds of caps. So it's a lot. And I think someone actually counted the caps and it took like 19,000 caps.
Leo: Sammie, how did you make the benches in the first place? And like, that many caps to make one bench is crazy! Like, how'd you get that many caps?
Sammie: So, at the beginning of my Buddy Bench project, at the time, it actually took 400 pounds of plastic capsule lids. So it was a lot more. But, um, so that will we set a goal for ourselves to get one buddy bench in one year and our principal helped with making that goal just to make it like, so it was pretty reasonable.
Um, it was a pretty reasonable goal and we told that to all the students and everything, but with the community's help and, all of the school and everything. We actually ended up getting three buddy benches in two months. So it was about 1600 pounds of caps that, yeah, it was at 1600 pounds of caps because we collected extra as well.
Um, but yeah, that was about to get the first three benches two months and then the word kind of spread from there. And I probably helped about 200 different schools and groups get Buddy Benches.
Leo: Sammy does that? How many Buddy Benches make and raise?
Sammie: Yeah. So I have probably helped about 200 different schools and groups get Buddy Benches, but there's been other communities that have done it on their own that I wasn't a part of, or maybe I'm not aware of, but yeah, I probably personally like helped either with donating money or donating caps to about 200.
Leo: Cool. Do you know how many physical benches you donated?
Sammie: There's so many, so many people I'll actually, I could probably ask the company Green Tree Plastics how many benches they've helped make cause they're a huge part of it.
They're the ones who actually make the benches out of the caps. Um, so I could, they probably have like an amount of Buddy Benches they've helped create. Um, but it's a lot. I know that. And one in one summer Walgreens actually helped to get 75 buddy benches and we spread that all around Indiana.
So there's so many.
Leo: In the world right now, how do you feel? And how do you think the world could change in the future?
Sammie: I love that question. I think that's an amazing question. Um, so right now, like with everything in the world happening, like the pandemic and so much more, I think that having, being able to like access. Okay, I'm gonna set that over.
I think that with everything happening in the world with the pandemic and so much more that being able to see people making a difference such as you at such a young age, um, it's, it helps motivate a lot of people and keeps them going.
So I think that even though a lot of people just see 2020 and 2021 as a downer, it can really be a, you can think on the positive side as well. Yeah. For the world and the future. I don't see it as a utopia. Uh, some people may wish that the world could be perfect, but I never, I don't think, I think it's really hard to imagine that because the world's never going to be perfect.
Everyone makes mistakes and that's okay. So for the world and the future, I just hope that everyone, maybe we can take a few more steps to be a bit more kind to each other, and that would really make a really big impact.
Leo: That is an amazing answer!
Sammie: I like my, one of my quotes is, “you don't just have to be an adult to make difference. You could be a kid too.”
And yeah, I love it because I also feel like Leo and I, we can connect a lot. I have a podcast of my own, so Leo, I would love to get you on my podcast sometime.
Leo: That sounds, uh yeah! Uh, tell us, tell us now that we need, we need information now. Like not like demanding you, but like we need information.
Sammie: Um, yeah, so my podcast is called Sammie Smiles and it's where I interview people who inspire me and in hopes to make other people smile. So I believe I've got, I've been actually the year mark is like, I think last week was a year mark of my podcasts. So thank you.
Leo: Golf clap. Uh, that's amazing.
Sammie: Thank you.
Leo: For all the listeners out there who are listening right now? If you're already an activator or just getting started. I want you to get in your superhero pose and we're all going to say “activators” on three.
We're all going to give Sammie a very big “activators” cheer on three. Are you in your superhero pose? Are you ready to say “activators” on three? Okay. Let's do it. 1 0 3. Activators!
Okay, thank you so much, Sammie. It was a pleasure having you!
[CONCLUSION]
Leo: It was so great to speak with Sammie Vance today and to learn more about how Sammie’s Buddy Bench Project has reached so many kids, schools, and communities throughout Indiana and the whole country!
Here are some things I learned and lessons we can take with us as we make the world a better place.
Number One. So I did a little research on buddy benches and actually asked my school if they have any - and we do! BUT - they’re in need of a little updating.
Have you taken a look around your school or local park/playground to see if there are any buddy benches? If not or if they need a little love,
Sammy has on her website an amazing checklist and FAQs (which means frequently asked questions) on how to get started on making your very own buddy bench!
Number Two. Who knew plastic bottle caps could be turned into something so useful and loving? Wait - am I the last to know this? Ugh…
After chatting with Sammie, we actually researched where our local recycling center is and are hoping to work with them to build buddy benches at our school.
Do you know where your local recycling center is? Do you know if your school or community center already partners with them to recycle and maybe even reuse the materials to build other items??
Number Three. Sammie does it all! Seriously - she has a podcast about kindness and sharing smiles, she makes friendship benches to help kids make friends, AND is saving the world by using and promoting recycled products. And throughout it all, she invites and collaborates with other awesome kids and their projects.
Don’t be overwhelmed though by all her awesomeness - like we always say and we’ve heard all our guests say - start with something you love doing or take a personal challenge and turn that into something that spreads joy and love… and maybe you’ll also start changing your community and the world for good.
[CLOSING]
Leo: Thank you to Sammie Vance for joining me today! You can learn more about Sammie by visiting sammiesbuddybenchproject.com. While you’re there, be sure to check out the Sammie Smiles podcast! You can even listen to Sammie interview me on Season 2, Episode 3 of her show!
Thanks for having me, Sammie!
If you’d like to know more about Sammie’s Buddy Bench journey, you can read all about it in her book, Inspire the World: A Kids’s Journey to Make a Difference! And I actually just got the book and it's really good!
AND thank you for listening to this season of The Activators! It’s been a lot of fun working on this show. I hope you’ve been inspired as much as I have been by all of the amazing guests we’ve had on the show. Man, I can’t believe we’re done. I’m really going to miss you all.
The Activators was written by me, Leo Abelo Perry and in full honesty - many other people including my mom and the greatest human ever - Matthew Winner.
Our show was edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. I’ve loved saying your names each episode. :)
Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
You can write to us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. And check out our other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Thank you again for a great season of The Activators!