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A couple who received multiple alerts from their security camera after a young girl kept waiting on their driveway to catch the school bus have gone viral after building a bus stop bench and library for her. On September 1, Maren and David, from Osceola County, Florida, received an alert while David was in hospital receiving cancer treatment, of a kid waiting for the school bus outside their house. Over the days that followed, the couple watched the girl, who they dubbed "Bus Kid," keep turning up and standing alone, and so they came up with an idea. They decided to order her a bench, and over the weekend built it ready for her to use when she returned for school on Monday. As expected, their security camera then picked up Bus Kid arriving capturing her sweet reaction, and an exchange of notes started, with Maren and David signing off as the "Bench People." The note exchanges helped build a bond, and Maren and David then created a miniature library so Bus Kid had books to read while she was waiting. The couple even left her an umbrella for when it was raining, before one day eventually meeting her father for the first time and finding out more about her daily commute.
Transcript
00:00We got a notification from our camera saying there's a child sitting on the edge of your driveway.
00:05I was a little nervous that some old person would come out and yell at me, say something like,
00:10get off my lawn. We were in the hospital early September for his chemo infusion. We opened up
00:17the camera and there's this child sitting, looked like a middle schooler. Cars were just zooming by
00:22and we're like, well, that's not safe. That's where the district signed my bus stop. I'm just
00:28following my bus driver's word to stay there. But eventually it became my little routine to stay
00:35at the corner of the driveway. My husband had the idea of, hey, why don't we get a bench and
00:39kind of pull it away from the busy roads. And while we were in the hospital, we went ahead and
00:44ordered
00:44a bench off of Amazon. We got home Friday and that Saturday we put the bench together and put it
00:50out
00:50there. She first noticed it the following Monday. I just saw the bench, told my dad, they left the
00:56bench. And of course he thought it was probably just something they were using for it. I shouldn't
01:02probably sit on it. But that quickly changed when I pointed out the bus stop sign. I was literally
01:08jumping with joy.
01:18One day when I headed home from school, I thought of making a thank you note because of how nice
01:23their actions were. Eventually it became an exchange of notes and gifts, like her leaving
01:28meat potato chips while I left her flowers and notes. I found the note on our door and I brought
01:34it in
01:34and I FaceTimed with my husband in the hospital. I read the note and he's like, we need to write
01:39her
01:39a note back. So I got a paper and pen and we came up with a response and that's how
01:45we ended up calling
01:46our bus kid and we were the bench people. Then we got her the library. It was the weekend when
01:52I saw her
01:53adding the little library. I felt so interested and curious all day that when I headed home, I
01:59specifically asked my mom to stop so I can look. It was just the sweetest thing. She was so excited,
02:04jumped up and down.
02:10I first met her one day. I got home before she did. I knew she was about to pull in
02:16and I saw dad
02:17pull her, turn around and park. So I took that chance to go outside and I met with dad first.
02:23Probably five minutes was talking to him and then we saw the bus coming up and that's when she got
02:27off
02:27the bus and I first saw her. She was so excited. She's like, it's so great to finally meet you.
02:33You could tell she wanted to just give me the biggest hug. Having my own little bus stop helped
02:38me feel sane and made me look forward to going on the bus every day. I sure hoped for this
02:46little
02:46adventure that we both made is that I get to stay with the bench for at least until I graduate
02:55and
02:56hopefully see more kids on that bench and get to meet Maren and her husband, the kind people who
03:03showed me kindness. Just a little bit of kindness can go a long way. When the audience first said,
03:09hey, you know, this would make a great children's book, we got the thing and that that's a great idea
03:13and we decided to publish it. It's just so heartwarming to see how many people are like,
03:19you've inspired me. I have a bus stop. I'm going to buy a bench and make it a little more
03:23comfortable
03:24for the students waiting. So if I achieve that, then that's wonderful.

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