Family members and friends of Jeanie Wedding pose for photo with Fr. Shijo Vadakumkara after the blessing of the Buddy Bench on Jan. 31 at Mary Carrico Playground in Knottsville. COURTESY OF MARY CARRICO SCHOOL
Buddy Bench gifted to Mary Carrico in honor of late alumna
BY MARY CARRICO STAFF
With the passing of Mary Carrico Catholic School alumna and local parishioner Jeanie Wedding, her family – including husband Joe Wedding, daughter Amanda Higgins, and son Joey Wedding – wanted to do something to honor her. They were looking for a project that would help reflect the love, warmth and friendship that Jeanie showed everyone she met. That project became a “Buddy Bench,” to be used to promote friendship and inclusion at Mary Carrico Catholic School in Knottsville.
A Buddy Bench is a bench placed on the playground of a school. When a student has no one to play with or feels lonely or sad, they can go sit on the bench. That’s a signal to other students that a student needs a friend! It encourages kids to reach out to each other and support and include everyone in play. We all need extra encouragement and friendship from time to time, and this Buddy Bench is a great playground tool to promote it.
A bulletin board at Mary Carrico Catholic School, featuring student-made butterflies bearing messages of how to be a friend, is seen during Catholic Schools Week. Volunteer Kay O’Bryan cut out all the butterflies and assembled the bulletin board, which was part of the school’s Buddy Bench ceremony. COURTESY OF MARY CARRICO SCHOOL
On Jan. 31, MCCS held a special ceremony to bless the Buddy Bench, teach students how to use it, and then complete friendship activities to work together. Each student made colors of faith necklaces and colored paper butterflies decorated with ways to be a friend, to place on a bulletin board.
MCCS is so grateful to the Wedding family for this Buddy Bench. It was a great way to wrap up our Catholic Schools Week, reminding us, “Encourage one another and build each other up!” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
This was originally published in the Sts. William and Lawrence Parishes bulletin.
Mary Carrico Catholic School students color paper butterflies with messages about friendship as part of the dedication ceremony for the school’s new Buddy Bench. COURTESY OF MARY CARRICO SCHOOL
Originally printed in the March 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
