An inspirational 11-year-old in Georgia has shared 20,000 bracelets and published a book about processing grief and anxiety
- Ta'kari Tatum, a fifth-grader in Georgia, shared that he lost his grandfather during the pandemic.
- As part of a school project, he made rubber band bracelets to help people with their mental health.
It only took 11-year-old Ta'kari Tatum a week to write it.
The impressive fifth-grader has published a book, titled "Snap It," about processing his grief after his grandfather and aunt died during the pandemic.
It builds off the successful bracelet campaign he started after a teacher assigned community service projects. He made rubber band bracelets that people can snap when they feel anxious or stressed, and has since shared 20,000 of them with people in the US, 11Alive reported.
"My book is an extension of telling people that mental health matters and it is a serious thing that almost everyone goes through," Tatum told the local NBC affiliate.
His teacher Laurie Mendenhall told 11Alive that Tatum is her "inspiration".
"It's been incredible to see how he's taken the hardest time in his life and made something good and impactful out of it," she told the station.
Tatum has also served as a national spokesperson for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, started an organization called The Rubber Band Mentality, and was named Georgia's Distinguished Elementary Gifted Student of the Year.
"I saw how many classmates' personalities changed due to COVID and being quarantined," he wrote on a GoFundMe campaign.
Tatum added: "I want people to know that they are not alone and there is plenty of help for everyone."