GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Two retired GRPS employees are on a mission to make sure students at Westwood Middle School and Union High School know they matter.
Two years ago, Michele Coyne and Rae Bunce had a conversation about what they could do to impact kids on the west side of Grand Rapids.
"Michelle and I were sitting on the porch one day, and we said, what can we do for Westwood and Union? We decided to try to go door to door, collect some money, see what people's input would be. Everybody was really excited," said Bunce.
That excitement turned into two thousand dollars raised amongst the neighborhood.
After raising the money, the woman began to do things like provide apples to the football team or give other items to the students.
"We've done little piece necklaces, which you kind of wonder, will a middle schooler even appreciate that kind of trinket? And they went crazy for them," said Coyne.
But this year, the woman decided to do something different.
"My dream would be if they look down on their wrist and were reminded every day that they matter, that that would help them get through a day,” said Bunce.
On the first day of school, with kids rushing back from summer break the women, along with staff and volunteers, handed out bracelets with the words "I Matter" in both English and Spanish.
“As they were getting off the busses and parents were dropping them off, I mean, we would give them the bracelet and show them and just say, you know you do matter, and don't forget it ever,” said Coyne.
Some students say they already understand the impact of the bracelets.
“I feel like they should know they're important. Never know how somebody feels so like and you never know what somebody's going through. So you should like, make them feel like they're important, because you don't know if they their parents make them feel important at home,” said 8th grader Tyli’nih Jones-Barnes.
If you would like to help these women continue their effort, you can message the women on Facebook on the “We are Westsiders” Facebook page, or Venmo them at michele-coyne-6.
