Rachel Stewart's son, Owen, didn't know any of the other kids on the playground when he started Grade 3 at Rick Hansen Public School in Aurora, Ont.

For the third time in his life, the eight-year-old was adjusting to a new home, new school, and new set of peers.

But with the help of a simple wooden bench, Stewart says her son soon shed his "new kid" status and made friends.

Now, inspired by her son's story, Stewart is raising support and money online to help build "Buddy Benches" at schools around Ontario.

A Buddy Bench is a designated seat in the schoolyard where students can sit when they want a friend to play with, Stewart said.

When somebody sits on the bench, it's a signal to the other kids to ask the student on the bench to play.

The benches are popular in schools in Europe and the United States, and have sprung up across Canada in recent years.

At Rick Hansen Public School, Stewart says the bench was key to helping her son find friends.

"He's always sort of the new kid in town," she said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca. "So a lot of the (other) kids have already built up friendships. So he sometimes finds it difficult to relate to the other kids who already have known each other for some time."

The single mother said her work and financial situation forced her and her son to move often, and that, at previous schools, Owen found it difficult to find his place.

"He would come home and I'd ask him how it went and I would always hope in my heart that he would say 'It went amazing,' " Stewart said. "But when I'd ask him further who he would play with, he'd kind of say 'Well, nobody really. I just floated around.'"

As a mother, Stewart said it was difficult to hear her son say he felt lonely. She says she was often tempted to leave work just to keep Owen company on his lunch breaks, but always resisted the urge.

"I get emotional even thinking about it," she said.

When Owen started at Rick Hansen in September, 2014, however, Stewart says the experience was "very different."

"When I asked him how it was going in the schoolyard, he said 'It's really great. I have so many people to play with.' "

At first, Stewart assumed Owen was having an easier time because he was getting older. But then, when she picked him up at school after earlier this month, she learned about the Buddy Bench.

On that afternoon, Stewart says Owen wanted to stay after school and play in the schoolyard before going home, but she was tired and wanted to sit down.

She found the bench and joked, "Is this the only place to sit around here?" In response, she said, Owen looked at her "nonchalantly" and said, "Oh, that's the Buddy Bench. Yeah, you can sit there."

Owen explained the bench's purpose, and Stewart was immediately excited about the initiative.

She asked her son if he'd ever used the bench, and to her surprise, he said 'yes'.

"I thought, 'Holy cow. I can't even believe I'm hearing this right now,' " she said.

Then, Stewart asked if Owen had ever asked somebody on the bench to play with him. Again, he said yes.

"He said 'Absolutely, of course. Everybody does,'" Stewart said. "I was so excited I wanted to cry. I had to hug him."

Impressed with the simple idea and its significant impact, Stewart went home and started Facebook and Go Fund Me pages, hoping to raise awareness and money to help get benches installed in schools around the province.

So far, she says the support has been "unbelievable." People from all over the world have responded to the idea.

Some, she said, shared success stories from schools that have had Buddy Benches for years. Others are fundraising for a bench at their child's school, and others said they wished they'd had a bench when they were a child.

Stewart also says she could have used a Buddy Bench back when she was in school—and that, even as an adult, everybody has moments when they could use a friend.

"Sometimes I wish that there was even these benches in workplaces or areas where you watch your kids playing sports," she said. "It'd be nice if we could have a communal bench where everybody could chat instead of being on their phones."

So far, Stewart has surpassed her fundraising goal of $1,000. She says the money is currently on hold while she talks to schools in the York Region District School Board and figures out how best to use the funds.

In the meantime, she said, she is trying to raise awareness about Buddy Benches, and her son, Owen, is wrapping up his first month of Grade 4.