On Feb. 25, the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area (BGCCA) is encouraging Cochrane to paint the town pink, on a day that is recognized nationally as an opportunity to stand up against bullying.
Pink Shirt Day was started in 2007 when two teenagers in Nova Scotia organized a ‘high school protest to wear pink in sympathy of a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt’.
The day is now recognized nationally with people encouraged to wear pink to demonstrate support of taking a stand against bullying.
“I think bullying affects every facet of our lives,” said Adelle Forzley, program coordinator with the BGCCA. “When we as adults really raise awareness around the cause being important and bullying not being OK, I think it just makes our community healthier.”
Forzley said this is their seventh year being a part of the day and they will be hosting an event in support of Pink Shirt Day at their main location from 3-6 p.m. The building will be decorated in pink, they will have pink baking, punch and also games and activities.
This year, there is also a public service announcement (PSA) competition happening with all Cochrane schools, which Forzley said they are hoping will get students engaged with the event.
The winning school’s PSA about bullying will be featured at the BGCCA event and they will also receive an ice cream party from MacKay’s, with staff from ATCO Gas volunteering there time to help out.
But this isn’t the only way local schools get involved in Pink Shirt Day.
For the past few years, Manachaban School has teamed up with surrounding schools Elizabeth Barrett and Cochrane High to get together for a huge pink ‘photo op’ Feb. 25. Students are encouraged to wear anything pink in support of the day and around lunchtime, anywhere between 200 to 500 students get together on the field.
“It is not just captured by the actions and it is not always in power, but it is the bully instinct to assert dominance and exploit vulnerability,” said Janet Greaves, child development advisor from Manachaban.
Greaves said bullying is a societal issue and is not just found in schools, but all over the place, such as in families or can even be found in road rage.
“Pink Shirt Day is a day that they are more aware of their own actions that could lead to bullying,” she said.
And bullying is something Forzley said they deal with at the BGCCA.
“I think if you walk into a group of children and youth, there will be at least one person who has been affected by bullying,” she said.
Forzley said the club has child and youth workers who have ‘strong backgrounds in helping children and youth who have been victims of bullying.’ They also run groups dealing with healthy relationships and those programs are ‘aimed in part at reducing the instances in bullying.’
“They are more about how to communicate, how to work as a team and how to resolve conflict in a more positive way,” she said.
Pink T-shirts will be on sale at Canadian Tire in Cochrane from Feb. 18-25, are $10 each and there is a request for cash-only payments. The proceeds from the sales go toward funding for a number of anti-bullying programs. For more information visit pinkshirtday.ca.
