New Club inspires students to "Be a Friend"

For the 2024-2025 school year, Eva Hotea '26 introduced a new club to campus named “Be a Friend.” To participate, the club requires only one thing from their members, to write one letter of encouragement a month, to a child who became a victim of bullying.

“Be a Friend” is inspired by the Be A Friend Project, a national “KIDS FOR KIDS” organization of student ‘Upstanders’ working to end bullying, save lives, and build kinder communities. Each month parents of the victims can submit their stories and after a selection process, one to two of them are featured online. This gives people from all around the world an opportunity to reach out to these families and share a few words of support with them.

Last year, Eva was a member of this club so when she joined the Perkiomen community this year, she knew that she wanted to bring it here, too. All it takes is less than five minutes of your day to write a few sentences expressing compassion, empathy, and encouragement towards children who went through very difficult times. Such a small act of kindness can truly change their lives.

“It is not hard to change the world and small actions like this matter a lot," says Hotea. "Every small thing we do has a much bigger impact than we actually think.”

Students recently sent 66 letters of support and a basketball signed by the Perkiomen School National Basketball team, to a student struggling in Pennsylvania, who dreams one day of being a professional basketball player.  

This is an opportunity to be more kind, more open and more friendly towards everybody else. Students are encouraged to join in and participate in this impactful organization.