Chucky & Richard

Chucky is an eleven-year-old sixth grader who attends Forest Park Middle School. He lives in Springfield with his mom, Debbie, and his younger sister, Elizabeth. When Debbie heard about the BBBS program, it sounded like a perfect fit. Chucky didn’t have a male role model in his life. He needed someone he could talk to and someone who could give him some positive encouragement. Debbie decided to enroll Chucky into the program and the rest, as they say, is history.

In the short span of one year, Richard and Chucky have been to all the BBBS social events, to a Celtics game, and to a Red Sox game. Although a die-hard Yankees fan, Chucky thoroughly enjoyed himself all the same. But that was just the beginning! Richard and Chucky also attended a Falcons game where they did the puck drop, and the story of their friendship won a contest that allowed them to attend a Patriots game as the special guests of Vince Wilfork and his wife! CBS 3 Springfield even did an interview with Richard and Chucky and put their story on the evening news.

So the big challenge for Richard and Chucky was for them to pick a favorite memory. Interestingly, Richard didn’t select any of the seemingly obvious choices as his favorite! “Of all the great things we’ve done, my favorite is our first outing. We went to Forest Park to check out the zoo. We threw the football back and forth and played a little baseball. Then we just sat in the bleachers and talked. I found out later that Chucky went home and told his mom all about what we did. I was so moved that our time together just talking mattered so much. It’s been a bunch of fun ever since.”

In fact, Chucky has made progress in leaps and bounds over the past year. According to Richard,“Chucky has learned to speak up for himself with greater confidence and ask for what he wants. He has met new people and made new friends, an important part of his social development. His mother reported that Chucky’s grades at school have improved dramatically. He even earned a scholarship to a summer camp this year as a result of improvements that he has made academically and socially.”

Even though they’ve done so much, it feels like this is still just the beginning for this pair. At the same time, however, it also seems hard to imagine what they could do that would top all the amazing activities from their first year. Perhaps attend a Yankees game?