A search in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, for a lost boy with autism who had hidden in a backyard storage cabinet inspired 9-year-old Ledger Mann to help children in crisis. His initiative has earned him recognition as TIME’s Kid of the Year for 2026 and as a TIME for Kids Service Star, while his project has expanded to distribute hundreds of emergency comfort bags across multiple states.
Creating the Comfort Bags for First Responders
During the search, Sergeant JT Mann of the Prince George County police department—Ledger’s father—helped find the boy, who was sitting calmly inside a gas grill storage cabinet to escape overwhelming sensory stimuli. When Sergeant Mann shared the story at home, Ledger, who also has autism, sympathized with the lost child. While he approved of how his father coaxed the boy out with a smartphone video, Ledger realized first responders lacked specific items to comfort children during stressful situations like car accidents and fires.
Ledger conceptualized clear backpacks packed with items tailored for children on the spectrum and those facing trauma. These supplies include blankets, plush toys, books, fidget spinners, wireless headphones, sunglasses, and dry-erase boards with markers for nonverbal children. His mother, Amanda Mann, the elected commonwealth’s attorney for Dinwiddie County, noted that Ledger developed the entire concept within 10 minutes.
Expanding the Project and Community Support
The family launched a Facebook page called LGM Bags, named for Ledger Greyson Mann, and sought to register as a nonprofit. The project initially started with about $100 from Ledger’s personal savings, which funded the first four bags. As local police stations and firehouses welcomed the donations, Sergeant Mann reached out to civic organizations like the Moose Lodge, the Fraternal Order of the Police, and local churches to fund additional supplies bought affordably from stores like Dollar Tree and Dollar General.
Ledger maintains strict control over the assembly process in the family garage, ensuring every item is meticulously arranged in an assembly-line fashion. The bags were initially distributed strategically across Dinwiddie County’s 286 square miles so nearby officers and firefighters could easily access them. Following a local television news story early this year, support spread to corporations, private citizens, and emergency groups in Florida, New York, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, and other parts of Virginia. One supporter even flew from Texas to deliver bags and meet Ledger.
To date, the Mann family has assembled and distributed more than 475 bags. Ledger attends a private school called the Learning to Lead Academy, where he enjoys math, alongside hobbies like Lego, jujitsu, and playing football. When delivering bags during weekends and school vacations, Ledger meets local first responders and therapy animals, and even instructed volunteers in Ulster County, New York, via Zoom on how to properly pack the bags.
The family plans to continue growing the initiative, with Ledger expressing his ambition to bring the comfort bags to all of America.
