Changemaker
Helice “Grandma Sparky” Bridges
TL;DR
The 82-year-old founder of the blue ribbon movement in our film, who turned surviving her darkest year into a one-minute ceremony for telling people they matter.
Helice "Grandma Sparky" Bridges created the "Who I Am Makes A Difference" Blue Ribbon Ceremony. At 37 (a wife and mother who ran her own business, whose marriage was, behind closed doors, controlling and verbally abusive), she came close to taking her own life. She left, and as co-chair of the San Diego Hunger Project soon discovered that many of the people she met were starving for recognition as much as anything else.
Her answer was the blue ribbon and its one-minute ceremony. Her story reached the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, and the ribbon has since reached hundreds of thousands of people through her own hands and many more through schools, workplaces, and seminars. At 82, her stated mission in our film is one billion people honored.
Sparky's premise is simple. Nearly everyone she honors tells her no one has ever told them they mattered. The ceremony exists to end that.
Why OGSP Recommends It
She is the film. Everything on this page (the ribbon, the ceremony, the billion-person mission) starts with her story, and she tells it herself on camera.
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Key Takeaways
- The ceremony grew directly out of her own survival. She knows firsthand what it feels like to believe you don't matter.
- Her blue-ribbon story appeared in the original Chicken Soup for the Soul and drew letters from around the world.
- At 82 she is still running ceremonies, with a stated mission of one billion people honored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Grandma Sparky?
Grandma Sparky is Helice Bridges, the founder of Blue Ribbons Worldwide and the creator of the "Who I Am Makes A Difference" Blue Ribbon Ceremony. In One Good Story Project's film about her, made when she was 82, she shares her mission of telling people they matter.
What is the Blue Ribbon Ceremony?
The Blue Ribbon Ceremony is a one-minute ritual created by Helice "Grandma Sparky" Bridges in which you honor someone by telling them who they are makes a difference, then hand them a blue ribbon to pass on. Her organization, Blue Ribbons Worldwide, teaches the ceremony through schools, workplaces, and seminars.
How did the blue ribbon movement start?
Helice Bridges created the blue ribbon movement after surviving the darkest year of her own life at 37. As co-chair of the San Diego Hunger Project, she discovered that many people she met were starving for recognition as much as anything else, and her answer was the blue ribbon and its one-minute ceremony.
Is the blue ribbon story in Chicken Soup for the Soul?
Yes. Helice Bridges' blue ribbon story appeared in the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, published by Jack Canfield, and her One Good Story Project profile credits that story with carrying the ceremony around the world.