‘Well that’s it for another school year….and what a year it was! I am full of joy writing this to you, and a little overwhelmed as well realizing just how effective our charity has become. Once again, we presented in EVERY province across Canada while also going to the US, England and Scotland.
The Scottish Government passed a motion to allow Bullying Ends Here speak in any of their school where a presentation is requested. This is HUGE because we are the first to do so. The main purpose for this was to allow the message around LGBT to be allowed with all of their students. In England, we went four times to speak to tens of thousands of students. The program is an absolute success with dozens of requests still to be actioned. The Metropolitan Police have been working hard to get our message out there and to have schools sign up. A partnership that is truly helping save many lives!
The numbers are what really shocked me. This past school year had me present to over 250,000 students. That brings our grand total to around 985,000 in only six years!!! This November is where we are on target to hit ONE MILLION. The number of emails/social media messages has remained around the 10% level and the total number of lives saved is 57. This past year also had us travel to very remote locations where residents can only be reached by flying in/out.
The information guide that we created for the start of this school year has now been included in many Government projects and school boards use it regularly. Our website had to be upgraded to handle the massive increase in traffic and we also opened the Bullying Ends Here Store. Please visit www.bullyingendshere.ca to see what we have available.
I also feel it important to share that this past school year also brought along many awards for me personally and the charity. The first being the Order of Merit. I also was honoured to receive the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers, Community Policing Award and the City of Calgary International Award. I am truly humbled by the recognition but continue to remain focused on the program and reaching as many as we can.
With the massive increase in requests for presentations and as we continue to grow, our expenses have shot up. This is where I hope you might be able to help. I am thinking a friendly challenge for all offices to partake in. We currently have a GoFundMe page setup to help raise the additional funds required to achieve historic proportions in the 2019/20 school year. The link for the page is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/bullying-ends-here-kindness-world-tour
I will put out the challenge that the office that raises the most money for Bullying Ends Here by August 15th will receive an incredible prize package including BEH wear, coffee cups and signed NHL memorabilia. Donations can be made either through the GoFundMe page, PayPal or directly through me. There are details on how to make a donation outside of GoFundMe on the BEH website on the ‘DONATIONS’ page.
We expect to reach another 300,000 youth this coming year, continue with our International efforts and strive to be one of the most effective anti-bullying program in Canada. Plans to add a primary grades presentation, online learning and a book detailing everything there is to know about bullying is all underway. Needless to say, we are walking the talk!
So, here we go. I leave this with you to do everything that you can to help the program grow and to help those that need it most. We all have a role to play. With a Cross-Canada Kindness Tour starting in Victoria in October leading me across the Country ending in Nfld. in March 2020, we can use all of the help that we can get. I have the locations listed on the website as well so feel free to reach out to book a presentation or two in your community.
As always, I’m here for any questions or thoughts that you may have. Never hesitate to message me. Please have a wonderful and safe summer season.
Your friend,
Tad
Courtesy of Tad Milmine, Founder, Bullying Ends Here.