Happy New Year everyone!
With the new year comes many new resolutions. For Bullying Ends Here, we are keeping it simple. Instead of trying to make any resolutions about change, we simply want to take what we have and expand on that. We want to reach even more. We want to change more lives. We want to SAVE more lives.
I am very proud to tell you that 2015 was very successful overall. The program was presented more than 120 times in 8 provinces to over 95,000 people. We are credited with saving 34 lives to date and we have received approximately 20,000 emails this year alone.
Bullying Ends Here was featured on dozens of television programs and newspapers around the world. We were also recognized by the Alberta Government with the ‘Inspiration Award’ for our efforts to help make the world a better place.
2015 was also the year that Dominion Lending Centres became the National Founding Sponsor for Bullying Ends Here. I will never be able to express just how much this means to me, and in turn, to youth across our Country.
As you may remember, I created Bullying Ends Here in 2012 after reading about the suicide of Jamie Hubley. Jamie was a 15 year old gay youth who took his own life after years of relentless bullying. After reading about Jamie, and having never met him, something inside of me ‘snapped’. I decided that I was going to try doing what I could to make the world a better place. I never fathomed that things would get this big, but I am humbled it has. I made a commitment to Jamie’s family after his passing that I would tell the world about their boy. This is a promise that I have held close to my heart and continue to do on a daily basis. To this day, I do all of this on my days off or during vacation time. I get to live my dream of being a Police Officer while also doing all I can to help make the world a better place.
I look forward to updating you on how January plays out. With presentations scheduled in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, it should be quite the month.
This will be the year that Bullying Ends Here will reach the 250,000 participant mark. It will continue to be another resource for those that need it most. I can’t tell you just how excited I am for this year. With thanks to our new union, we will not only change lives but SAVE them.
Happy 2016 everyone!
Courtesy of Tad Milmine, Founder, Bulling Ends Here