On May 22, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, I had a day off school. So did the kids at Brick Mill Elementary. But that didn’t stop us from getting together and packing 206 bags to deliver to people in need in the Middletown, Delaware area. The room was full of students, a couple teachers, a handful of parents and even their Vice Prinicpal, Ms. Jacobs.
We all worked together to pack bags, some of which had toiletry items, all of which had clean water and healthy snacks. I also had a chance to talk to the kids and answer some questions. These were 5th grade honor students. They were all so nice and they seemed really happy to be helping. I think we all had a really good feeling being there. My Mom was able to talk to everyone, too. She’s getting pretty good at adding little bits of things here and there when I forget. Thanks Mom!
Thanks to the Brick Mill Elementary School 5th grade honor students. You guys are awesome. We made big changes that day and I am so happy I was able to work with all of you! I hope to come back next year!
My blog readers, I’m sorry, I have been waiting too long to write to you. I will work on this. I get busy. Many of you have asked if I am feeling better and I would like to say that I am. My cough is all gone and I’m back in school catching up on things.
Since I wrote a lot has happened. The Jefferson Awards dinner award ceremony in Newark was held on April 30 at Home Grown. I couldn’t stay long because I still didn’t feel well but I did get to see a lot of other young people who live in the Newark area and who are doing really awesome things. I am very impressed by what everyone is doing and I would like to offer a very special thank you to the Mayor of Newark, Polly Sierer for choosing Brae’s Brown Bags as her top project. It really means a lot to me and I hope I can do more in Newark to help people in need.
“Everyone deserves someone who cares. Everyone deserves a friend and that’s easy to do. So pack up a brown bag before you go to work. That way if you see someone in need you will have something you can give them. One brown bag can make you a champion.” – Braeden Mannering
I had a Skype interview with STOP Hunger on May 1st. I think it went well. It was hard to remember to look into the web cam instead of into the computer monitor and the monitor kept showing up in my glasses. I had to take them off. I’ll tell you more about that soon. You’ll be getting a super awesome fun update about STOP Hunger and the Stephen J. Brady Foundation 🙂
But now the update you have all been waiting for…
The Coming Together: Community Response to Hunger Conference update!
Wow!
To say that they event was a success is an understatement. (Okay that’s my Mom talking, but it’s true). We had nearly 200 kids attend from all across Delaware. There were 500 people at the conference and for the morning we all were in the same room learning together. One of the most eye opening moments of the group during the morning was when a student spoke during the town hall session and asked the legislators on the panel what they could do to help her family. She explained that she and her brothers and sisters don’t have food to eat every day.
We know that 1 in 5 kids are hungry. We know those numbers. We talk about that statistic. The morning of the hunger conference the number turned into the face of a real little girl right there in the room. It made a lot of people stop and think. It made me stop and think. To the panelists who answered questions from all of the kids, I thank you very much. I know it meant a lot to all of them and I wish we had more time to answer everyone’s questions. State Senator Bryan Townsend, State Senator Colin Bonini and Charlie Copeland, State Committee Chairman Delaware GOP many thanks.
Multimedia Design Challenge Winners’ Wall
We had many of the Multimedia Design Challenge winners in attendance. We hung up their posters and essay on a wall for everyone to see. They were very good and covered a bunch of different ideas about food waste, food insecurity and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Please check out the complete list of winners here.
We had a special video message from none other than the amazingly gifted Food Network Iron Chef and TV Host on The Chew, MARIO BATALI.
He said he was sad he couldn’t attend the conference but encouraged all the kids to continue raising awareness about food insecurity. He even congratulated me for coming up with the idea. Thank YOU Mario for sending us a video message, how cool is that!?
Most of the day was spent in a great big room called the Wilmington Room and this was the “Kid Track” of the conference. We had eight different activities which groups of students rotated through and participated in together. Most of the activities required a group effort. The Bear-Glasgow YMCA was there with their “Born to Move” program for youth fitness. The exercises were super fun! Even two Wilmington Police Officers joined in on the fun!
The Delaware Cooperative Extension Master Gardener’s taught kids about planting their own food, every kid left with a plant. Tanya Steel and Haile Thomas cooked healthy snacks for the kids at a healthy eating demo and taught them about how important it is for everyone to be able to eat healthy. My Gram and Pop took care of the 3B bag packing table and handed out shirts. My Grandmom Stephan and my friend Suzy from North DelaWHERE Happening worked with a Food Bank volunteer on the Money Pit activity. My Mom and me came up with that idea. Here’s our description of the game. “In a timed, interactive game designed by Braeden Mannering, himself, students will team up to dive into a money pit (ball pit) finding index cards with food items on them and then racing back to their table to create a nutritional meal out of their cards for under $1.25. As of 2015 (2011 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that there were just over 1 billion poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less.”
We also had volunteers Linda and Mike Jarrell facilitate a “Power of Words” activity where the kids wrote how they felt about certain hunger themed quotes. They wrote such cool things that we are going to turn it into a book and send it to the volunteer, legislators and schools who participated in the event. It’s going to be awesome! My Uncle Greg and volunteer Katie Hegedus worked on a “Rice Bowl” activity which taught kids about the 1 in 5 children are hungry statistic. Then my friend Jada Littman and two legislative aides from the State Senate helped kids draw pictures or write letters to share their feelings about food insecurity. The letters will be sent to the students representative in Dover, Delaware. We are still working on matching up the zipcodes of the kids to their representative.
I’d like to thank Juan Castellanos, our photographer, the Food Bank of Delaware, the Food Research Action Center and Bank of America along with Senator Townsend and Jessica Stump for all their hard work in helping to plan this great event.
My Mom and me met with people from the Food Bank on Thursday to talk a little bit more about the conference we’re all planning together. We have some more ideas on how to move forward and who to to invite. I would really like to invite Mario Batali and Gabby Douglas. I’m also going to work on creating a video invitation to send to the Kid President. I’ll let you know when I get it put together.
Then on Friday we met with Richard Rind, Director of Auxiliary Services at the University of Delaware and Sue Bogan who is the Director of Dining Services. My friend Jessica Stump joined us and so did Senator Bethany Hall-Long. We were meeting again to talk about how the University of Delaware should try and recover some food around campus to give to people in need. It isn’t really the dining halls, it’s the other food locations like Einstein Bagels or Starbucks who might have leftover food at the end of the day which, if not recovered, would be wasted. I’m hoping we can get the food to places who will be able to use it. It sounds like UD will be willing to work with me and my Mom, but we need a place to accept the food on a regular basis, and that seems to be the problem right now.
My Mom and me are flying to Atlanta, Georgia on Friday. I just know I will have a lot to share about the Kids Are Heroes Young Leaders’ Summit I’m attending. I am happy I’ll get to meet new people and share with them what I am doing with Brae’s Brown Bags and learn what they are doing in their communities. I can’t wait to meet the other “kid heroes.”
Ooooo and Fusion Fitness in Newark, DE is doing a fundraiser for Brae’s Brown Bags. I’m so happy they want to help out and also encourage people to not only be change makers in life but also to live healthy! They have held fundraisers for several different community organizations. Thank you Fusion Fitness!
And it has been SO COLD here in Delaware. I think it was 18 degrees this morning when we woke up for school and that wasn’t with the wind chill. There have been 15 or 16 code purples which means the nights are below 20 degrees. Really nice people volunteer to host sanctuary at their churches to allow people to come in out of the cold. I have been trying to get my 3B bags to these hosting sites as often as I can. It’s hard though sometimes I don’t have bags packed in time. I hope people like them when they get them and that they are helpful. Which reminds me, I need to tell my Mom we’re out of hand warmers. Again.
It’s pretty cool to get a Christmas card from the White House.
I got one last year and it popped up and the windows were shiny.
This year it was doors and you opened the door to see inside the White House. And I have been in that area of the White House before, but not at Christmas time.
I think it’s cool that it’s signed by everyone and even has paw prints for the dogs.
And at the White House website they have cool holiday things you can print out including recipes, wrapping paper and crafts. Click the image to the right to check them out.
We will send the President and the First Lady a Christmas card from our family, too.
This time next week it will be Christmas Eve and I’m excited, especially to have a break from school!
And also Happy Hanukkah to all of you celebrating, I know it started last night!
Holidays are fun. Thanksgiving is coming up and then Christmas. I am very excited because my family is going to Disney World for Thanksgiving. I have never been there. We are taking a plane. We will also stop into Universal Studios. It should be a lot of fun. I am excited to go on a plane again. My brother and sister have never been on a plane. I am wondering what we will do. I have seen pictures and heard things but I think it will be really cool.
There has been a lot going on in my world. Do you know what the word vague means? I did not. I do now. Vague means you can something a little bit about something, just enough, but then not everything. It’s mysterious! My step dad made up a word “Vague Book” on Facebook yesterday. Hahaha!
I was interviewed yesterday. It took a lot of work. I am VERY tired. I didn’t want to say anything wrong or mess up or anything, I get nervous. My little sister sat in a makeup chair. She picked pink blush. She didn’t need it though, but she smiled really big. My brother, Finn, had the makeup artist spike his hair up better.
I met some fun people. Really fun. AND I got a new laptop. It’s awesome! I played World of Warcraft and Minecraft on it and they weren’t slow or glitchy anymore. THANK YOU Mr. Adam!
Well, I’m almost through two months of 5th grade. I think I’m getting used to it now. There seems to be more homework. I hear that is kind of what happens with school though when you get older. My brother had homework over the weekend though and he’s only in kindergarten. I just needed to read.
This weekend I went to my dad’s house. I brought a bunch of bags that I had packed and we made a trip to the Emmanuel Dining Room. We had about 90 bags and we handed them all out. I’m going to need to think about how to make the next deliveries a little bit more special because I want to put something cool for Thanksgiving and Christmas in them. Last year I put in snowflake ornaments which were silver and glittery.
Some things coming up?
Well on November 13th I will be attending a dinner at the River Rock Kitchen because I was chosen one of North Delaware’s Top 10 Movers and Shakers. And I’m the only kid in the list! The nice people at northdelawherehappening.com are also going to be sending me questions to answer for an article they will be publishing. I think every winner will be featured which is pretty cool.
I’m also excited to tell you that $275 were donated to Brae’s Brown Bags for my birthday. My Gram and Pop Pop, my Grandmom and Grandpop, my friend’s Erica and Dominic and a new friend I made at the 2014 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, her name is Jasmy, she’s from Kansas (and her Mom Sowjanya), they all donated money and I want them to know it really means a lot to me. Also, Vice President Joe Biden sent me a very nice letter for my birthday. He said he was wishing me a happy birthday and that he was proud of me for helping people in need in Delaware. He even signed it!
There are some speaking events coming up which I am preparing for and this Wednesday I have one at the College School in Newark. And then next week on November 6th I’m going to be speaking to a class at the University of Delaware. They are learning about non-profits and the professor asked my Mom if I would want to be a guest speaker. That’s pretty cool actually, i wonder if I will know anyone. I have been making friends with UD students over the last year and they are all really friendly.
One thing I’m really excited about this week is that tomorrow night we’re having a movie fright night with the Junior Leader’s and Leader’s group at the YMCA. I don’t know what movie will be picked but it’s going to be a lot of fun.
And then Friday is Halloween! My family loves Halloween. My Mom and step dad both will be dressing up. My little sister and my brother Finn and then my other brother Michael will all have costumes. We watch Halloween movies every weekend from September through October. We have decorations all through our house inside and outside. My Mom is a complete Halloween crazy person. Her nails even have monsters on them. I’m going to be Steve from Minecraft, maybe “Super” Steve.
Last night I went to the Evening in the Garden at the University of Delaware. There is a garden for the community that the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources maintains and they donate produce to the Food Bank of Delaware. So all my Food Bank friends were there. I got to see Chad and Kim and everybody who went to Dover for the Food Bank Legislative day, even Pat Beebe. They are all so nice.
I also got to see the big garden and I was impressed. It was nice and I took a picture to show you. I tweeted it last night but I didn’t have time to write a blog post last night so you might have already seen it.
We had food made by the culinary students who are learning how to be chefs thanks to the Food Bank Culinary School. I had two slices of pound cake with a caramel sauce which isn’t very healthy but they were small slices and they were VERY good and I was standing when I ate them so I was working off the not so healthy parts.
Then my Mom bought raffle tickets and we actually won something! We won four tickets to see the football game tomorrow at UD against Delaware State and they gave us a parking pass, too! I can’t believe it and I am very excited that I will be able to go see a football game!
I talked with Chad Robinson for a little bit about the work I’d like to do at the University of Delaware with food recovery. He said he has heard about it and that UD has mentioned me in meetings recently which is really cool even if they aren’t so happy to be pushed by a 10-year-old.
So I did not have the picture of my friend Tony Attaway to post on my last blog post, but I found this one that my stepdad Brian took and it kind of shows what I want you to see.
Tony tells me he does not take it well when someone says nice things about him. He also said that he does not think he did so many good things when he was my age.
I don’t believe you Tony!
Tony is my friend from the Emmanuel Dining Room. He works for the Ministry of Caring. He is there every weekend when I deliver bags. He says I am his little hero and I want him to know he is also a hero of mine. He makes it his job to feed people who are hungry. But he does not just feed them food. He talks to every single person who comes to eat at the soup kitchen. He helps then find a table to sit. He knows their names.
I am trying very hard to make sure that when I give out my 3B bags that I also talk to who receives them. That I tell them I hope they have a good day. That I learn their names!
Tony. Tony. Tony.
I know it was not what you wanted to be surprised by me at my 3B Summer Celebration. But I am so happy you came and I am so happy I could give you an award. You deserve it!
P.S. When I get the photos from Danielle Quigley (our beautiful photographer friend) I will send on to Ms. Dorine so she can give it to you.
When you think about what being a hero means to you, what do you think? I guess most kids my age think about Batman, he is my favorite super hero because he doesn’t really have any extra powers, he’s just out to catch the bad guys. Anyway, there are a lot of kinds of heroes and you can have more than one. Usually I think people consider a hero to be someone they look up to because the person inspires them to do more and be better.
On Wednesday, August 6th, I was named a Young Hero by the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I can’t really explain how that felt. I toured the museum and saw exhibits about great people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa and saw all the people who died trying to help others after the 9/11 attacks in New York. Then later in the afternoon I was on stage receiving a medal of honor from this same museum. They will have my picture and my story about Brae’s Brown Bags in their museum as an exhibit. It doesn’t really seem right but at the same time it feels good.
There were 13 other kids honored who are all making big changes in the lives of the people around them. There was a boy who is helping mentor his peers and also raising money for pediatric cancer because he has had cancer and he lost a leg during his battle. There was a girl who is helping people who are in the LGBT community in her high school. She is helping fight against bullying and show people to be accepting of each other. One of the girls creates gardens all over to help war veterans have a place where they can find peace. I stood on the same stage as a young girl who stood up out of her wheel chair with braces on both her legs as we heard the story about how she petitioned the American Girl doll makers and told them there should be a doll with a wheel chair. All of these kids, all of them, definitely heroes, doing great things. Me though, a hero? Really?
My Mom said she nominated me for the award because I’m showing all kids in my community that it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you see a place where change is needed and you set out to make that change, then you’re a leader. She said I help her to want to be a better person and that when she sees me being a leader and helping to feed the hungry then that also makes me her hero.
I would like to thank TD Bank who sponsored the event at the National Liberty Museum and also all the people at the National Liberty Museum who said really nice things about me and everyone else. I hope they know they make us kids want to do more because they encourage us.
To all the kids I stood on stage with, trying to take selfies! All of you are pretty cool people and I hope we meet again.
What a roller coaster of a month July has been! I feel like I say something like that every time I begin writing a new post. I guess it’s good to be keeping busy though, right?
My last post let you all know that I was going to be giving a speech at the White House and I did on July 18th.
I also took my first plane ride and I really liked looking out the window and seeing how the cars got smaller and then seeing how I was above the clouds. It was really cool!
Me at the White House
But about the trip, my Mom and I flew into Washington, DC Thursday morning and we stayed at the Westin in Georgetown. It was a really nice room and I got to go swimming, too. My Mom took a lot of pictures and she has them on Flickr if you want to see.
I also got to go with all the 2014 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge winners to the National Museum of American History and I really like that. I got to meet everyone and talk with them. It was funny because everyone kept asking me what my recipe was because they all got to Washington because they were winners for their recipes. So I tried explaining that I was a 2013 winner but that the new Delaware winner was Roisin Liew and she was very nice. I met her in the airport before we got to Washington.
I think people were surprised when they got to the White House and I was already there. I got to go early with Tanya Steel and my Mom. They let me walk in the ballroom and practice a line of my speech and make sure I would be tall enough at the podium. They had to cut down the stool to be just my size which was pretty funny. We were joking it was like Goldilocks the three bears.
Me and the First Lady Michelle Obama
When it came time for the 2014 Kids’ State Dinner I stayed with First Lady Michelle Obama and with Tanya Steel and then we were introduced in the room and I was on stage with them. My Mom was in the front at a table. Tanya gave a speech and she introduced me, she said she is proud of me and that she hopes my story will inspire other kids. I hope it will, too. And then I gave my speech. I was nervous, but I just did like I practiced before and when people in the audience started clapping and laughing during funny moments I knew I was doing good and so then I wasn’t nervous anymore. The First Lady gave me a big hug which was an awesome feeling and then she told everyone that I did a great job but that I’m not supposed to make the First Lady cry. Of course she meant happy, proud tears, so it was okay. She seemed really, really proud of me.
Me with Tanya Steel
I got to talk about Brae’s Brown Bags, but what was more important was to be able to talk about how everyone no matter their age or no matter if they are rich or poor that they should all have the opportunity to eat healthy. I think a lot of people agreed and seemed to understand. I think it is important that people think about it. Food insecurity is an injustice.
I know my Mom and really my whole family and all my friends were also very proud. Everyone watched and said I did good. And then I got like 100 tweets on my phone. Really, every time I cleared the screen I was getting more. I am still responding to people even now!
One thing I have learned about Tanya Steel and about First Lady Michelle Obama is that they are more than just inspiring leaders, they are Moms. I think people forget about that sometimes. They both talked about their kids and about how they love their families. But you can tell they love all kids and they want all of us to be happy and healthy.
So then after the trip to Washington, which was a crazy whirl wind, roller coaster ride, then my family went to the beach. We went to Fenwick Island, that is where we go every summer. It is always a lot of fun. It was nice to just be able to dig in the sand, watch Disney on TV and also swim in the ocean. I went out in the waves this year even without my boogie board. We all had a lot of fun and it was good to be able to unwind.
