Group fighting bullying with street fundraiser

Published 9:00 am Thursday, June 14, 2012

Last year’s Take It To The Streets taught Community Against Bullying that people needed to talk about bullying. CAB hopes to keep the conversation going with another fundraiser Friday.

“Last year we were able to connect with a lot of people,” said CAB head organizer Danielle Borgerson-Nesvold.

CAB members will accept donations, pass out anti-bullying information, sell T-shirts and speak to motorists at the second annual fundraiser.

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Volunteers will be at 14th St. and Eighth Ave. Northwest by Riverland Community College from noon to 6 p.m., rain or shine. More volunteers will greet people at Eighth St. and Eighth Ave. NE, near Hormel Foods Corp., from 2 to 6 p.m.

Borgerson-Nesvold said the group hopes to speak to as many people as possible, since so many offered their money and stories to CAB volunteers last year. She recalled one elderly man who told her that he was bullied 60 years ago, and is still affected.

“It absolutely brought me to tears,” Borgerson-Nesvold said.

That’s why CAB volunteers will offer anti-bullying pamphlets and other materials to show how people can stop being victimized. Borgerson-Nesvold said it was important people realize a bully’s harsh words were a reflection of the bully and not the victim.

“People have always been under the presumption that we are the bad words that people tell us we are,” she said. “Why would you allow them to create who you are when you are the one who ultimately has that power?”