Natalie Flaherty, a 12-year-old from Minnesota who distributed over: The wider industry impact

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.”

Her wish was finally granted in 2023. So, for Halloween 2023, Flaherty dressed up as Frank and had a purpose beyond trick-or-treating.

But this year she said, ‘I’m ready, Mom. When asked why she wanted to apply for the Barron Prize, she said, “To get my message out there. 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. Over these years, she also researched Anne Frank and learned that it was hate that killed her. She wanted to spread kindness. “I was hesitant. I wanted to make sure she fully understood everything about Anne Frank and what happened. I really want to do it. 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. It wasn’t so much for the award as to just get my message out there. “