Bullying Ends Here – Update for May

Hello Friends,

What a year it has been so far. I feel as though I am always having something new to share with you. This will be a brief overview of some of the final achievements for this past school year and our expectations for this coming one.

First of all, I was honoured to have been recognized by the Governor General in Ottawa for my efforts to end bullying. I was presented with the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers. I was blessed to have my parents, along with Jamie’s parents, present as I received this honour. Please check out our Facebook page (Bullying Ends Here Canada) to see some of the footage of the ceremony. Jamie’s parents expressed how proud their son would have been.

We are about to embark on our first overseas tour with presentations scheduled in Scotland and England. This is set to begin in late June as to not take away from our own youth here in Canada. Seeing as the UK school system is essentially year-round, we wanted to help even more youth while also expanding our program. This tour will be the final one of the 2017/2018 school year.

With that said, I am proud to say that we achieved all new records during this time. I presented Bullying Ends Here in every province (many with return visits during the year) to over 135,000 youth. This brings our overall total to more than half a million students have heard the message. I received another 20,000 plus emails and social media hits. Each one, I respond to myself. The current total for acknowledged lives saved is 44. I still can’t wrap my mind around this but am truly humbled by this.

We have updated our website to include even more videos, news reports and resources. Take a look anytime to keep updated and follow along. The website is www.bullyingendshere.ca and you can also follow me on Instagram/Twitter @tadmilmine.

I still pinch myself when I realized that I had the absolutely honour of sharing our program with over 15,000 students from centre ice at the Saddledome in Calgary. Talk about a nerve-racking experience but something that I had to do.

I am currently working on a new book that I have tentatively called ‘Bullying Ends Here – Walking the Talk’. This book will be more of a resource book that speaks to what the youth are sharing with me via social media, what they hope to see and what they want adults to do. This, on top of information gathered by some of the experts in this field, will enhance our ability to help as many as possible.

Another project we are working on is information guides that will be targeted for Teachers and Parents. I know there is a gap right now with information missing for these two groups. With our experience doing this for six years, there is much we can offer. We are also working closely with some of the leading experts in the anti-bullying field to put out the very best information possible. Our target date for launching this is the fall and is sponsored by Industrial Alliance.

I am pleased to report that the Ministries of Education for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have partnered with the PrairieAction Foundation and Bullying Ends Here to provide presentations to communities that they deem most vulnerable. I know that most of these will be to our remote brothers and sisters in the north where they arguably need the support most. To be ‘the one’ to help with this mission is beyond words. I will be providing at least 10 presentations in each Province for this joint mission. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

We now have a youth advisory board that will start up come September. This will consist of a youth advisor (16 years old) who will interact with youth directly and help us gather an understanding of what school is like, directly from the source. This role will be done through social media and email and open to anyone who wants to contribute. Yet again, the most current information and knowledge will be available to us.

We now have an annual scholarship available as well. This is awarded to a youth attending continuing education who has done something outstanding for our communities/country. This scholarship is in loving memory of Jamie and supported by his family. There are more details on our website. We expect to start publicizing this more next year.

Lastly, I have updated the website for the presentation schedule starting in September. I know this may seem far off, but (sadly) summer will come and go quickly and fall will be upon us. I expect these dates to go QUICK! I have dates for every province. If you see something that works for you and your communities, please let me know and I will see what can be arranged. Presentations are 75 minutes long, suitable for grades 6 and up and ‘cost’ $300 each. There is a presentation outline and more details on the website of course.

So thats it for me. Its almost time to take some time to kick back and relax so I wish all of you a very happy and safe summer. Keep smiling and I know that our paths will cross soon.

Your friend,
Tad

President/Founder
Bullying Ends Here