Kelowna

The Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs are once again joining the Provincial and National movement to celebrate Pink Shirt Day – Bullying Stops Here, on Wednesday February 23.

City councils across the Okanagan along with Boys and Girls Club kids, staff, school districts, McDonald’s staff and other community members will be wearing pink to raise awareness and to demonstrate that everyone is part of the solution to stop bullying.

The Boys and Girls Club is encouraging the Okanagan community to wear pink on February 23 to show that bullying will no longer be tolerated.

Boys and Girls Clubs across the Okanagan will be participating in planned activities that provide education, awareness and teach skills to encourage empathy building during the week leading up to Pink Shirt Day.

Pink Shirt Day originated in Nova Scotia where a new high-school student was being bullied and harassed when he showed up at school wearing a pink T-shirt.

In support, two young men purchased 50 pink T-shirts from a discount store and enlisted fellow students to wear the pink shirts at school to support the new student who was being bullied.

Since this powerful act of solidarity, Pink Shirt Day has made its way across Canada and into B.C. and is now internationally recognized.

This year the response has been overwhelming, with over 4,000 shirts being sold in the Okanagan alone and a national shortage of pink cotton shirts.