I applied to win an Awesome Buffalo grant when I first started my project, Sweet Buffalo Rocks last year. I didn't have many people participating, but now I have 28,000 members in my group hiding painted rocks in Western New York, but the most important members are kids. We love to brighten the day of a sick or sad child in need and that's exactly what we do. Anytime a child finds a painted rock it puts a huge smile on their face, which brings me to my newest idea for a project!

There is a beautiful winter garden at Oishei Children's Hospital. I would like to team up with members of Stone's Buddies, a program supporting families coping with chronic and life-threatening illness, to paint Sweet Buffalo Rocks and leave them in the garden for children and their families to find on a regular basis. I'd like to put a sign or plaque that says "Leave your Sweet Buffalo Rock here to brighten a child's day." That way if a child and their family member gets bored or lonely waiting in the hospital and wants to take a walk to the garden, they have something free and fun to do. The best part about my idea is members of Stone's Buddies are actually children who face illnesses every day, so if I teamed up with them to paint rocks, they would be helping other kids just like them.