Meet The Amazing 12-Year-Old Behind A Facebook Hugging Campaign That's Making Kindness Go Viral

Maddy Birt has launched a heartwarming social media campaign called Hug the Helpers; she hoped to raise awareness about the abuse emergency workers can often face on the job.

The Year 6 student, from John Paul College in Brisbane, said she never would have imagined her campaign would blow up the way it has.

Especially since it started as a school project.

“We were asked to take action on a problem… and I chose to do assault on emergency workers,” Maddy told Student Edge.

Unfortunately, emergency workers (including paramedics and front line health workers) are commonly left vulnerable to physical assaults from the very people that they are trying to help.

Maddy decided to create a Facebook page to help raise awareness about the abuse emergency workers face. She was learning about social media at school, and about how powerful it can be in delivering messages to people.

The Hug the Helpers page has since gone viral, attracting more than 100,000 hits. It has been shared by followers from the UK, France and New Zealand.

Maddy told us that she’s paid visits to three hospitals and two police stations so far, sharing her message with emergency works on the job. “They’re so amazed and they’re thankful that I’m helping them and making them feel like they’re doing a great job,” she said.

Due to the nature of their jobs, emergency workers are often exposed to aggressive behaviour while simply trying to do their jobs. Senior Sergeant Peta Jordan from Logan Central Police Station voiced her appreciation for Maddy’s campaign in a recent blog post.

To show their support, Logan police have posed with love-heart shaped hands, urging others to do the same.

Maddy thinks it’s incredibly important, especially around Christmas time, to show support for emergency workers. “They’re taking time out of their holidays, that’s usually spent with family at home… to look after other families,” she told Student Edge.

As her campaign continues to grow online, Maddy says she definitely hopes it could go global, which certainly isn’t a far stretch, since she has already received messages from people all over the world, including the UK, France, Italy and New Zealand.

“My mum is very proud of what I’ve achieved, and she’s helping me a lot through this because I’m not old enough to have a Facebook yet,” Maddy says.

If you’d like to show your support, give the Facebook page a like! ('tis the season, after all.)

Photo: Facebook (@hugthehelpers)