News & Stories

What is Pink Shirt Day?
Pink Shirt Day started in 2007 when two grade 12 boys noticed another boy being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Their response was to go out and buy 50 pink shirts to distribute and wear to school to support the boy who was being bullied. Pink Shirt Day is now being participated in across Canada and has even been recognized by other countries. This year’s Pink Shirt Day was on February 28th, 2018.

How is BGCBigs involved?
Bullying is an ongoing issue that take place in schools, workplaces, sports, home, and online. BGCBigs believes in standing up against bullying and is looking to create anti-bullying programs for our kids. We decided to not only have the one Pink Shirt Day but to also spend the month of February talking to our kids about this issue. Here is what BGCBigs did in the month of February to educate kids on anti-bullying:

February 7th – Cyber Bullying Awareness Day
February 14th – Random Acts of Kindness Day
February 21st – Kids Supporting Kids – Inspiring kids to help others/building resiliency skills
February 28th – Pink Shirt Day at McCauley from 5:30-7:30PM. In attendance we had Police officers, Alberta Fish and Wild Life, and the Sheriffs Department. We also has Derks Formals who created the Pink Shirt Day pin (which we talk about below) and the group WIKA came to volunteer with the kids. The kids took turns participating in different stations, including arm wrestling with the First Responders, tug of war with a massive rope, anti-bullying bingo and writing kind words on leaves to pin on the ‘kindness tree’. The First Responders were able to talk to the kids about the effects of bullying. Overall, the event was a success.

Pink Shirt Day Pins
First Responders are unable to wear Pink Shirts as this goes against their uniform protocol (since they need to visible to the public). In light of this, Landon Derk from Derks Formals created the Pink Shirt pin. The pin is shaped like a pink uniform shirt. Best of all, many First Responders have been authorized to wear these pins on their uniform! The pins are available for purchase at any Derks Formals across Alberta for only $5. The pins were created with First Responders in mind but can be wore by anyone. So far, the sale of Pink Shirt Pins has raised $10,000 for the agency and will be used to help develop anti-bullying initiatives!