What is Stand For The Silent?
- Stand for the Silent is basically a platform for Laura and I to go around and speak to kids and communities. We talk about what happened to our son, and we actually talk about the same situation that Ty was in, and what he had did, or had done rather, from several other children whose families have reached out to us and allowed us to honor their children by telling their story. We try to get schools and communities involved with raising awareness, spreading our message, that bullying does have to stop and that we can all make that happen if we all just stick together and come together. It truly does take a village to raise that child. Schools can't stop bullying, parents can't stop it, kids can't even stop it. But if we all work together, we can. We travel around, we do presentations for schools, communities. We have talked at summer camps, church groups. I've been to juvenile detention centers, I've been to prisons. We've actually got a chapter at the only maximum security women's prison in the state of Missouri. We just try to keep raising that awareness, and we try to help support the kids that are being picked on, let them know that they're not alone. Our main message is that they are somebody, that they belong. They have a right to be here. They have a right to be who they are. And that we love the somebody that they are, just like they are. We try to also support the bullies and let them know that they're not alone. Bullies become who they are because maybe they're picked on. Maybe someone in their family, their parents, their older siblings, somebody's bullying them. And we want them to know that we care about them too, and that they don't have to be that way.
Stand for the Silent is committed to raising awareness and bullying prevention.
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Kirk SmalleyPresident, Stand for the Silent
Kirk and Laura Smalley lost their 11 year old son Richard Ty Field on May 13th 2010 to suicide due to constant bullying. Since then they have been speaking out against bullying to over 1,100 schools and community organizations reaching over 1,250,000 youths and adults, as well as meeting with president Obama and the first lady. They have been invited to speak in 42 states and 16 countries to date. Our mantra is a simple statement born from a commitment to a child lost – to stop bullying in our world today. With unequaled dedication and commitment, they have tirelessly labored to inspire a world where our children can be safe and where no other parent feels the agony of a child lost to the effects of bullying.
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