Kailey’s legacy lives on in kindness through Buddy Benches

Kindness continues to live on in Kailey Mach’s legacy, who passed away tragically in a house explosion in the late hours of Feb. 26, 2022, while house sitting in rural Lexington Township.

Since then, her mother Vicki Mach has been searching for a purpose in her death. “I remember a story of a kid acting out and making a threat at a school, and everyone was calling him a bad kid. She (Kailey) said, ‘Mom, he needs help. I know that kid. He did it for attention, and he’s crying out for help.’ She was maybe 18 year old at the time. It really opened up my eyes that she could see the world like that.”

Vicki said in a separate incident at the Pioneer Power Show, “There was this kid with downs syndrome who was upset. He pulled away from his mom and walked right over to Kailey, and she held his hand and walked around with him. He sensed that she accepted him. They didn’t know each other. When he had calmed down, he returned to his mother.”

It is the kindness described above that Vicki wants others to remember and continue on — enter the Buddy Bench. The idea was something that Vicki had seen before and had casually suggested, among other things, to the Le Center TCU Principal Jeff Eppen in February of this year.

Buddy Benches originated in 2013 from a boy named Christian Bucks from York, Penn., when he was faced with the possibility of his family moving to Germany. Bucks started looking at new schools in Germany and noticed a special bench on the playground at one of the schools. When the family asked what it was, they said it was a bench for children who were feeling lonely and needed someone to reach out to them. The boy related to it and reached out to the principal of his current school in York. He fundraised to have such a bench installed at his school in York.

“Initially Jeff (Eppen) thought the benches would be good because Charlie (Kailey’s father) is a contractor and that he could build the benches,” said Vicki. “But we wanted something that was more permanent, would last longer, so we ordered the metal benches.”

Each bench was paid for out of the funds they have set aside for Kindness for Kailey projects. The benches were about $1,400 each to purchase.

The Le Center school has two benches, which is where Kailey went to school, and the Montgomery and Lonsdale TCU elementary schools received one each. Kailey had worked at KidZone and as a paraprofessional for Tri-City United Schools while she attended Augsburg University, wanting to become a kindergarten teacher someday. She was a 2019 graduate of Tri-City United High School and chosen Miss Congeniality at the 2018 Kolacky Days Pageant. She was also set to student teach in the fall of 2022.

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All of Kailey Mach’s family — mother Vicki, brother Korey, and father Charlie — stopped in at this month’s school board meeting on Oct. 14 to address the school board about their Buddy Bench donations. Vicki fought tears describing what the benches mean to her and how they relate to Kailey. “She always wanted to be a teacher,” said Vicki.

Vicki was very touched that Principal Eppen brought one of the benches into the school and explained to the student body in Le Center what the bench is and where it originated. Eppen put out a message on the school’s webpage and within it said, “One thing that has been said over and over since that fateful night is how kind and caring of a person she was to anyone and everyone. Kailey gave her best to her family and friends, and most all, she cherished working with children. Those that knew her best can’t even count how many times they heard her say, ‘I can’t wait to be a teacher.’ Her nature of kindness and love of kids and teaching, led her family to want to give back to our local schools at TCU.”

School board member Chris Vlasak said, “I think it’s great. Thank you.” Superintendent Kevin Babcock stood up and walked over to a teary-eyed Vicki and gave her a big hug.

Vicki said that she is hoping to start a foundation in memory of Kailey later this year, stating that there are people that have wanted to donate to the cause and that would make it easier for them to do so.

“Someone had said to me that they are starting to find a purpose in their child’s passing, from another mom. I said I am never going to find a purpose but in doing I am going to find a purpose,” said Vicki, “It took me a while to want to do some of that but some of it was immediate.”

There have been staggered examples of “doing” since Kailey’s passing. She asked for books instead of flowers for Kailey’s funeral. “We got tremendous support,” said Vicki. “We had them (the books) for almost a year and then I realized it was National Reading Month and she (Kailey) wanted a Dr. Suess room.” The idea clicked and they donated the 1,400 new books to the three Tri-City United elementary schools.

They also received flowers that were then gifted to a place that makes mini-bouquets that are given to people in nursing home memory care, of which about 150 were made. Additionally, they received some used books that were given to a TCU National Honor Society member who was putting up little free librarys.

The Machs also adopted part of Le Sueur County Road 5. “We just cleaned that up on October 6th,” said Vicki. Every year they also give a scholarship out in Kailey’s memory to a TCU student.

Now, each of the elementary schools in the Tri-City United School District have at least one bench where those students who are feeling lonely, bullied, or otherwise just need some support can sit on and other caring people, like Kailey, can approach and comfort them.