CABINS gala draws 200 to support anti-bullying message

Posted 4/8/15

About 200 persons attended the March 29 annual fundraiser benefiting the Community Against Bullying in Schools (CABINS), held at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln.

The event raises funds for …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

CABINS gala draws 200 to support anti-bullying message

Posted

About 200 persons attended the March 29 annual fundraiser benefiting the Community Against Bullying in Schools (CABINS), held at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln.

The event raises funds for CABINS’s programs in Rhode Island schools and to reward students who display civic responsibility in and out of their classrooms.

Attending the event were state Sen. Edward J. O’Neill, I-Lincoln, who was keynote speaker; state Rep. Robert A. Nardolillo, R-Coventry; Central Falls Mayor James A. Diossa and Ward 4 Councilor Stephanie Gonzalez; and Pawtucket At-Large Councilor Sandra C. Cano. Central Falls Police Chief James J. Mendonca also attended, representing the Rhode Island Troopers Association. Corporate sponsor of the event was Amica Insurance.

CABINS speaker Deborah Michalenka, of Lincoln, thanked the Peter T. Pastore Jr. Charitable Foundation for its support of the organization, which was formed after she and husband Peter lost their son, Jeffrey, to suicide in 2006, following relentless bullying at school and online.

“Everything we do with CABINS is to prevent some other family from feeling this tragedy,” she told the crowd.

CABINS President Cynthia Mulvey of Lincoln said that anti-bullying efforts mounted by Rhode Island schools are “an inspiration to me, daily.”

O’Neill recounted how his daughter, Erin, who has special needs, was enjoying an afternoon of snow sledding as a child when two boys targeted her by deliberately placing their sled in her path. His daughter was cut severely on her face by hitting the metal runner of the boys’ sled, he recalled. She became afraid to sled there ever again.

“Erin never went down that hill again,” he said.

Speaker Beth Venditti of Warwick brought many in the crowd to tears in recounting the relentless bullying that prompted her brother, Jeffrey Michalenka, to take his own life. Her younger brother was intimidated on the school bus, at school and online, she said, adding that some of his classmates had even created a fake Facebook page in his name to humiliate him.

“Finally, he couldn’t take it any more,” she said.

Venditti said her brother’s death had a wide-ranging effect on his immediate family and all those who loved them. She urged the crowd to notice and befriend people who are being intimidated and offer them acts of kindness to support and empower them.

“No act [of kindess] is too small,” she said.

Comments

1 comment on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • GloriaR

    To help combat bullying, it could help to teach kids kindness & tolerance as young as possible with songs, like “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or7WPUtUnRo

    I was a teacher for 20 years.

    Thursday, April 9, 2015 Report this