Anti-Bullying Fair - End Bullying Now

What did you do last weekend? I spent last Saturday at the Midvale City Park for the Anti-Bullying Fair organized by the Dolls & Gents! This was the first of what they hope to be an annual event! Might I add that it is my hope that we can eventually not need such events!

There were many booths, most of them were focused on some applicable topic to support the theme of Anti-Bullying! For example, End Bullying Now (more info below),

Suicide Prevention, Be a Buddy Foundation,

another booth was a group that partners such organizations together with schools, No Story Left Untold yet another booth was a girl scout project to raise money to buy the FOR curriculum for Brockbank Junior High School. FOR = Friends of Rachel, who was the first one killed in the Columbine incident so long ago! There were also booths that sold products like Inside and Out Cosmetics,

crocheted items, Retro Betty Vintage Boutique, wood art, Pampered Chef, Marykay, spray paint art, Tyler Lamph, photography, food and more. There were activities and fun entertainment for the kids, like clowns and superheros and hula hoops and more. Also, the kids from the Midvale Boys & Girls Club presented a talent show with some cute acts!

HEY! I thought this was an ANTI-Bullying Fair!!!

A little chastising followed by teaching about End Bullying Now...
yes, the Jester signed the pledge to End Bullying Now!

One of my favorite booths was actually by an Olympian, I love the Olympics! One of the reasons this booth caught my attention was because Jeremy Holm is a bobsledder, which happens to be my favorite and he had a bobsled there! I spoke with him for some time and he works with The Athlete Outreach Project. He was at this event to talk about anti-bullying and suicide prevention as he lost his best friend to suicide in junior high due to bullying!

Jeremy C Holm, Bobsledder, Author, Motivational Speaker

Admittedly, my favorite booth was the one I had for End Bullying Now! I was honored to have this opportunity to bring this specific campaign to Utah. First, I thank my mom for coming to help man the booth!

I was first exposed to End Bullying Now on a recent trip to Las Vegas for a conference. There will many other blog posts for this conference! Today, I want to talk more about the End Bullying Now Campaign! You can go here to find out more about why End Bullying Now was started by NAAFA! It was wonderful to speak about this topic with so many people. One lady that I had the priveledge to talk with works for Woodrow Wilson Elementary and works with training to be Safe at School, Anti-Bullying Training! It is my goal to bring more events and awareness of this specific campaign to Utah! I would love to see more events like this one in California!

I don't have a number of how many people attended this event, but I do know that they came from all over the Wasatch Front, not just Midvale! We did have 127 pledge cards signed by those in attendance. It was way awesome to watch as some of the parents got on their knees and read the list of things the kids would be pledging to do and made sure they understood each and every one of them. In the end we had the Dolls & Gents gather for a group picture with their End Bullying Now Pledge Cards!

Dolls & Gents pledge to End Bullying Now

It comes down to these questions...were you bullied? are you being bullied? OR were you the bully? are you the bully? I was definitely bullied and sadly, even as an adult, still experience being bullied! That was one thing talked about by several people that it doesn't matter your age, bullies exist! How sad is that? Are you ready to pledge to End Bullying Now? Contact me, leave a message, etc for more information on presentations and possible events! So, anyway...I'm passionate about this effort and that is what it is to me...watsit2u?