Olivia Gardner is a 14 year old Middle School student from Novato California who was bullied for more than two years at three different schools after having an epileptic seizure one day in class. The bullying worsened when students created an "Olivia Haters" web site on MySpace. Today Olivia is home schooled by her mother.
Emily and Sarah Buder, sisters from Mill Valley, first learned of Olivia's story in March 2007 and were inspired to ask fellow students to write letters to raise Olivia's spirits. With growing media attention and the Internet, what began as a project to send Olivia a few encouraging letters grew with near 3,000 "Dear Olivia" emails and hand-written letters flooding in from around the nation and world from people of all ages, including bullies themselves.