Today is Pink Shirt Day! If you’ve never heard of this particular occasion before, the MeloTel team is only too happy and proud to introduce it to you. Pink Shirt Day is also known as Anti-Bullying Day. It originated in 2007 by Berwick, Nova Scotia’s David Shepherd and Travis Price. The duo purchased and gave out 50 pink shirts in support of Chuck McNeill, a ninth grader who was bullied simply for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.
Today, there are Anti-Bullying Days all over the world that take place on various dates. This year, Wednesday, February 26th is recognized as Pink Shirt Day as the last Wednesday of February is now recognized as the national Anti-Bullying Day. To celebrate, people are encouraged to wear pink shirts to work or wherever else they may go. By wearing a pink shirt today, you are declaring to the world that you firmly stand against bullying.
This year’s theme is “Lift Each Other Up”.
As the official CKNW Kids’ Fund’s Pink Shirt Day website declares, this year’s theme for the occasion is “a simple but powerful message encouraging us to look beyond our differences and celebrate the things that make us unique. When we lift each other up, we see past the things that separate us and see instead the things that unite us as people.”
“Bullying is a major problem in our schools, workplaces, homes, and online,” the site explains, “Over the month of February, and throughout the year, CKNW Kids’ Fund’s Pink Shirt Day aims to raise awareness of these issues, as well as raise funds to support programs that foster children’s healthy self-esteem.”
There are many variations of Anti-Bullying Day throughout the world.
It is recognized in such nations as France, Lebanon, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. As of 2018, New Zealand began celebrating Anti-Bullying Day on May 18th.
In Nova Scotia, where Pink Shirt Day started, the province’s premier, Rodney MacDonald proclaimed that the second Thursday of September would serve as “Stand Up Against Bullying Day”. Back in 2008, the then Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell proclaimed February 27 as the province’s official Anti-Bullying Day.
You can donate towards anti-bullying efforts.
Pink Shirt Day is about more than wearing a pink shirt in support of those who have been bullied. You can also offer donations to anti-bullying programs. Since 2008, Vancouver’s CKNW Kids’ Fund and CKNW 980 have been raising funds in support of such efforts.
“100% of net proceeds are distributed to various organizations that support children’s healthy self-esteem, both with their peers and themselves” their website explains, “They teach empathy, compassion and kindness.
In 2019, the funding accumulated by their campaigns impacted over 59,000 children and youth. Initiatives that benefitted from the fundraising included Kids Help Phone, KidSafe Project, Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC, Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Canada, I Am Someone Ending Bullying Society, Vancouver Out On Screen Film and Video Society and Stigma-Free Society.
Please don’t hesitate to DONATE TODAY!
