The focus of the 2nd Annual Hands Across Santa Paula for Kindness is “Help Stop the Bullying!” - abuse the founder of the community event said has no age or gender limits.
The September 23 Hands Across Santa Paula event, which will include student art and musical entertainment, will be held at Veterans Park (located at the corner of South 10th and East Ventura streets) starting at 3 p.m.
According to Beverly Samantha Frady, the founder of Hands Across Santa Paula, “This year we will be promoting kindness to help stop the bullying!” The emphasis on stopping bullying resulted from Frady’s efforts to have children write down a Kindness Wish: “About 90 percent of the wishes were to stop the bullying.”
Bullying is the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person they perceive as being weaker. It can include physical abuse, instilling fear in the victim, or general verbal harassment.
Bullying, Frady noted, is “across the board. Even senior citizens are bullied, and if there’s any little tiny difference I can make I will.”
Last year, the Santa Paula Police Department started working closely with the Santa Paula Elementary School District on policies and programs centered on preventing bullying. One such program was No Bully Week at Glen City School, which in January featured an art contest and celebration archived for viewing on www.kadytv.com.
Frady said a youth art competition to promote putting a stop to bullying has been launched, and art will be shown at the September 23 event. Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley kids, Olivelands and Mupu Elementary and Santa Paula High School students are involved in the competition.
“The response from the kids to the art contest has been amazing, and Jennifer Heighton, executive director of the Santa Paula Art Museum is one of our judges,” said Frady. “I’m rustling up some prizes for the kids... you need something in hand there, especially when you’re little,” to spur on budding artistic endeavors.
The Isbell Middle School Condor Choir, directed by Donna Nelson, will offer a concert; and Frady said there will be several speakers, including SPESD Superintendent Dr. Paul Chounet and Councilman Fred Robinson. And, noted Frady, “We’re going to have some special guests the kids really enjoy: our Santa Paula firefighters, police officers, and McGruff that Crime Fighting Dog with his buddy, Sparky the Fire Dog. Our new Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center will also be here. There may also be a surprise guest or two!”
For information about Hands Across Santa Paula for Kindness call Frady at 805-525-7646.
To view the KADYTV.com video of the Glen City School No Bully Week celebration that took place in January, visit: http://www.kadytv.com/community/cities/santa-paula/video/glencityschool.
