A love bench at a bus stop

Caitlin Kane

James Warren was walking in his Denver neighborhood when something gave him pause.“A woman was waiting for the bus,sitting on the dirt.And I was like,‘Oh man,that's terrible.’That's not dignified at all.We need to do better for our fellow city members,” Warren told a reporter.“And so,I thought,I could do something about that,and I could build a bench.”That moment led him to a mission to help his community.

Warren found some waste wood,thanks to construction sites in his neighborhood with piles of waste wood.Because his dad builds houses and he grew up around architectural tools,he knew he had the basic skills needed to build a bench.

He built one at the beginning of the year and put it back at that bus stop where he first got the idea.Since then,he's built eight custom benches and has placed them at bus stops around the area.

Each bench looks different,since he's using waste wood for all of them.Each one takes a few hours to build,and Warren hand-delivers them to bus stops without sitting areas.While each bench is unique,Warren makes sure to carve the same message on all of them:Be kind.

“Sometimes it can feel really difficult to make a change in the world around us.But the truth is,anyone can be kind and make a difference in the world.And that difference matters a lot,” he said and he hopes the benches continue to inspire more and more people and perhaps expand to other cities.

Reading Check

What is the key significance of Warren's bench building according to the text?