Article written by Crystal Mayo Babes Special Projects, Media
When BethAnne FitzPatrick called BABESWORLD Home last month inquiring about the purchase of some training videos and began to share her Babes journey, I literally got goose bumps.
I placed her call on speaker for Founder Reverend Dr. Lottie Jones Hood to listen in. Less than one minute into the conversation, I glanced over at Reverend Lottie with a reassuring look that the 40 year Babes journey is still on track and the magic of Babes is still very much alive after 17 years.
Seventeen years ago, New Jersey educator BethAnne FitzPatrick was trained to become a Babes Presenter with Babes’ Elizabeth McGlinn as her trainer and who is also New Jersey Godparent..
“At the time, I was working in an elementary school teaching Life Skills to k-8th graders when my principal asked if I would be interested in learning more about Babes and possibly becoming a Presenter . . . Why not, I thought. As an educator – anything to help the kids,” recalls FitzPatrick. “The first day of training, I knew that I had made the right decision to become a Babes Presenter. Seventeen years later, I’m still excited about Babes and how it has affected my life and how I’m able to continue to positively affect and impact the lives of so many children.”
After training, FitzPatrick searched for that perfect assistant and together she and Lisa Kenny ventured out on what they now refer to as their “Babes Mission.”
Over the past 17 years, FitzPatrick and Kenny have introduced the Babes philosophy and its puppets to nearly 10,000 children at various schools, enrichment programs and home sessions.
“There are so many Babes stories. Many of them from parents thanking us for addressing subjects that some parents may feel uncomfortable about discussing with their children — ranging from handling peer pressure to children being able to identify and speak to someone about abuse,” states FitzPatrick. “It was also always good to hear parents say they have never seen their children so interested and happy about a program and its puppets.”
What both FitzPatrick and Kenny are most excited about is when they run into some of their elementary school students who are now young adults and they share Babes’ stories.
“Former students have actually shared with us that they have saved their colored pages of the puppets after all these years . . . This alone speaks volumes of the impact of the Babes program.”
Kenny recalls, “On one occasion we ran into a former student who we taught in first and third grade. He was now a senior in high school and a waiter at a local restaurant. “He recognized us immediately and was soon talking about Babes. He remembered all the puppets, their names and what their messages were. He then began to get emotional and shared how the Babes peer pressure story saved his life; from that story he remembered puppet Donovan Dignity (the wise old owl). He then shared with us how he was in a difficult situation and before making what would’ve been a bad decision, he thought to himself, ‘What would Donovan do.’ When the answer came back, he was able to do the right thing.” This story literally brought both Reverend Lottie and me to near tears.
FitzPatrick then shared the story about a special needs student, “The entire class included him in everything, never making a difference because of his challenges. It was the Rhonda stories that impacted them and taught them to be considerate of other people and their feelings.”
When I asked which puppets were favorites, both FitzPatrick and Kenny were in agreement, “The kids love all of the characters but we have found that Rhonda Rabbit is their favorite with Recovering Reggie a close second. We believe that Rhonda is their favorite because of her shyness and students seem to truly empathize with her feelings.”
Babes has been and continues to be a profound gift that, without a doubt, has made a positive impact on so many of the children we have presented to. We cannot thank Lottie Jones enough for the gift of her wisdom to create such a worthwhile and most needed program. We are committed to spreading the Babes message to as many children as possible. We have plans on being at the next Babes Training in Baltimore.
