Natalie Flaherty, a 12-year-old from Minnesota who distributed over 100,000 anti-hate bracelets, is one of this year’s Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes winners. The tween won the $10,000 award for her global initiative, ‘I Stand with Anne’, which aims to transform Holocaust remembrance into daily action. The bracelets she made read, “I Stand With Anne, Put a Stop to Hate.”Flaherty began the campaign when she was a fifth-grade student at Fairmont Elementary School. She first came across Anne Frank’s story in third grade, when she read about the young diarist and watched a documentary about the Holocaust. She was deeply moved by Anne Frank’s life. For the next two Halloweens, Flaherty asked her mother if she could dress up as Frank. Her wish was finally granted in 2023. Over these years, she also researched Anne Frank and learned that it was hate that killed her. So, for Halloween 2023, Flaherty dressed up as Frank and had a purpose beyond trick-or-treating. She wanted to spread kindness. “I was hesitant. I wanted to make sure she fully understood everything about Anne Frank and what happened. But this year she said, ‘I’m ready, Mom. I really want to do it. Instead of trick-or-treating, I want to do something for other people,'” Natalie’s mother, Becky Flohrs, told the Sentinel in 2023.Natalie Flaherty began thinking about how she could spread her message of kindness, and that’s when she landed on the idea of making bracelets. She had the words ‘I Stand With Anne, Put a Stop to Hate’ printed on them with money from her savings. On Halloween, she went from door to door and handed out the bracelets. “It’s a simple way to unite us all. People can look down and see and be reminded of the cause,” Flaherty told the outlet.What started as a one-night idea on Woodland Avenue in Fairmont has since become a nationwide movement, with bracelets reaching all 50 U.S. states and spreading globally through major institutions, including the Anne Frank Center USA and the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
Over the next two years, Flaherty didn’t just mass-produce bracelets. She began working with educators and politicians on curriculum and policy around hate education. She founded the Kindness Club, through which she coordinates further bracelet distributions. When asked why she wanted to apply for the Barron Prize, she said, “To get my message out there. It wasn’t so much for the award as to just get my message out there.““I’ve learned that my age is not a limitation. Young people have the ability and the responsibility to lead when we encounter injustice, ignorance, or silence,” Natalie Flaherty added.“I’m very proud of myself. It makes me feel so accomplished, and people are actually seeing my message,” she told the outlet.The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes is a programme created by author T.A. Barron and named after his mother, Gloria Barron, which recognises 25 children aged 8 to 18 from the United States and Canada who have leadership qualities and are instrumental in bringing a positive impact on fellow people, communities and environments.Twenty-five young leaders were chosen for this year’s prize, and the top 15 winners received $10,000 each. Flaherty plans to reinvest the prize money into bracelet production and distribution, continue her education, make charitable donations and push forward with her policy work around hate education.“I think the award says that she has made creative, effective changes. She’s made a substantial impact on people in society, which is a big deal. People need it right now,” Flaherty’s mother told the outlet.In a statement about the broader mission, she articulated what wearing the bracelet means: “It says that they also have the same idea as me, and they also don’t want hate to have a ripple effect and break our world.”
