Some of you may know about the Freddy Project that a friend of mine sponsors every year in her 7th grade history classroom. She has every student make a flat paper doll named Freddy and then that student sends Freddy off to see the world. Freddy gets mailed from person to person (with a letter of explanation), collecting photographs and signatures along the way. In March Freddy is mailed back to the student at school and the student gets to live vicariously through Freddy’s travels. Last year one Freddy toured with the heavy metal band OutKast! Bella’s Freddy traveled to Japan, France, Australia, Korea and then back to Joshua Tree, California.
The teacher always displays all the returned Freddys with all their souvenirs and pictures on the classroom wall by a large map of the world. Each Freddy has string connected to all the spots he has visited in his travels.
Unfortunately every year there are kids who don’t know a single person outside of town to whom they can mail their Freddy. So every year (which is why some of you already know about this project) I send off five or six Freddys to people I know abroad (meaning: anywhere outside of Yucca Valley). It doesn’t take much responsibility. All you really have to do is sign Freddy’s back with your name and location and mail him on to another friend. It is a nice touch to send a picture or two of what Freddy has seen. Even more bonus points if you add postcards or other souvenirs of your area.
Here are five more Freddys looking for a couch to sleep on:
Awww. It looks they’re waving to you. How can you resist?
Please post a comment here if you want to have a Freddy (or two) sent to your home. I only took five, but there are probably still some left…