“I believe in the old African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’” said Tavia Sillmon, unit director of the Lincoln Boys & Girls Club 21st CCLC. “To date, we have not lost one child to bullying, and we would like to keep it that way.”
Sillmon said approximately 75 people attended Thursday’s “No Bullying” kick-off.
“We had 45 children sign the ‘no bullying’ pledge, and all of our speakers signed it as well,” she said.
Sillmon said guest speakers for the event included Miss Talladega County Erica Leonardi, Tommie Agee, who played football at Auburn University and also won back-to-back Super Bowl Championships with the Dallas Cowboys, Blake Mayo, who played baseball with the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, and Lincoln Police Chief Travis McGrady. Lincoln Mayor Lew Watson gave a proclamation stating that Lincoln will be a “No Bullying Community.”
“Bullying is a big problem in our schools,” Sillmon said. “We have addressed it here at the Boys & Girls Club, and I have spoken with parents who have pulled their children out of school due to bullying, or were considering pulling their child out of school because of bullying issues.”
Sillmon said education is a major factor when addressing bullying.
“Part of it is an education problem, because some of the kids don’t realize they are bullying other kids,” she said. “We teach them to think about what they say before they say it. It won’t hurt you to say something nice, instead of something negative.”
Mayo said one out of four children is bullied.
Agee said most children who bully have issues themselves.
“We need to address those issues, instead of just punishing the bullies,” he said. “We need to get to the root of the problem and find out why the child is being a bully, and then address the root of the problem.”
Sillmon said each speaker gave examples of bullying and addressed issues such as repercussions of bullying, how to respond to bullying, how to intervene, and other topics.
“Tommie and Blake and Erica spent time with the kids after the program, taking pictures with them and signing autographs,” she said. “It meant a lot to the children.”
Sillmon said Agee also spent the day in Lincoln as well, getting to know the community and speaking with Lincoln Kiwanis Club on the importance of becoming involved in community issues.
“We are excited with the community’s support, and pleased the community wants to be involved in our ‘No Bullying’ campaign,” she said. “We all want to keep our kids safe so they can ‘be great,’ which is the Boys and Girls Club national campaign theme.”
McGrady said he is pleased the community is addressing such an important issue.
“I greatly appreciate the guest speakers taking the time to come to Lincoln and help us address the issue of bullying,” he said. “I was honored to be a guest speaker with them.”
McGrady said bullying is an issue everywhere, and Lincoln is no exception.
He said the Lincoln Police Department will work with Sillmon to help educate parents, teachers, and students on prevention, intervention, and all other aspects of bullying.
“I think this is an excellent program, and the Lincoln Police Department is proud to be a participant in the campaign against bullying,” he said. “We fully support the program and will assist it in any way we can.”
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