Ellie and Anna Carpenter are helping Legionnaire Todd McKinley save the lives of veterans.
Todd McKinley, senior vice commander for the American Legion Department of Tennessee, is running for department commander next year. As he travels the state, whether for his campaign, Legion meetings or visits to VA medical centers, two dear friends came up with an idea to personalize rocks for him to hand out or leave behind instead of a challenge coin.
Ellie Carpenter, 12, and her sister Anna, 10, are painting Be the One rocks with a QR code on the back that directs to the Legion’s betheone.org website. For the past two years, McKinley said the sisters have been championing The American Legion’s veteran suicide prevention mission.
“They love it,” he said. “(The rocks) are like a challenge coin, but instead of saying, ‘Hey, keep this on your shelf,’ the idea is to keep the rocks in your pocket and whenever you come across a veteran who may be in need or someone you meet, that you give them a rock and talk to them about Be the One.”
Ellie and Anna have painted about 300 rocks in their free time.
“I know how much veterans and our soldiers do overseas and at home, and I don't think it's very fair for them to come home and some of them don't have families and friends to support them anymore,” said Ellie, a seventh grader. “The rocks are to raise awareness for veteran suicide and to find help for them.”
That help comes in the way of the QR code directing to the Be the One website. Their mom, Carrie, puts about 60 tiny QR codes on a Google Doc that she prints, cuts out and places on the rocks with layers of Mod Podge.
“If somebody's walking down the street or is somewhere where one of those rocks are lying down and they pick it up, it has the information on it if they need help talking to someone,” said Anna, a fifth grader whose favorite rock she’s painted so far is that of Iwo Jima showing soldiers hoisting up the American flag. “Because like what Ellie said before, they might not have family or friends to talk with it about. So they can actually talk to someone who will care about them and give them the right advice about things.”
Whether handing out the rocks or leaving them behind in public places, Ellie and Anna are helping McKinely spread the message about Be the One.
“Whenever you’re at an appointment, you set one next to the front door or someplace like that and generally by the time you leave, sometimes someone has picked it up,” McKinley said. “It’s kind of cool.”
The Be the One message on rocks is also spreading beyond Tennessee thanks to the sisters. While attending an oratorical contest recently, a Legionnaire asked Ellie and Anna if they were the ones painting Be the One rocks. After replying yes, he shared that he took one of their rocks to a post in Florida, and they are now hosting a Legion Family event to paint Be the One rocks together.
“I love that what they’re doing is spreading,” Carrie said. “I’m so proud of them that they have really taken it on, and they love doing it too.”
McKinley is writing a book about the loss of his best friend to suicide on Christmas Eve in 2017. And Ellie is writing an excerpt about Be the One for the book and what it means to her. You can read the excerpt here. McKinley said once published, proceeds will be donated to The American Legion’s Be the One program. Until then, he will be collecting Be the One rocks from Ellie and Anna to spread the message and save a life. He may even get to paint a rock.
“I get to paint occasionally, but I get to hand them out,” McKinley said. “(Ellie and Anna) are like, ‘Hey, trust us with the artwork, you hand them out. You talk to people better than we do. But we do art better than you.’ I’m like, ‘OK. I’ll stay in my lane.’ I love it.”
- Be the One