WATCH: Ahead of “Pink Shirt Day”, we meet a Pitt Meadows student who makes fighting bullying a year-round battle. Linda Aylesworth reports
Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day, a time to raise awareness about bullying. For Pitt Meadows high school student Sam Porta, talking about bullying is a year-round affair.
Porta is the founder of Hockey Against Bullying, a youth-led initiative that uses hockey to get young people talking about bullying.
She was inspired by the death of Amanda Todd, the Coquitlam teen who committed suicide in 2012 shortly after posting a video detailing the bullying she endured at school and online.
“When Amanda Todd passed, I was like, this is enough, this shouldn’t happen,” says Porta. “My friends knew her. This could have been my best friend.”
Porta reached out to Amanda’s mother Carol Todd, saying she wanted to start a pink shirt campaign in Amanda’s honour. The two have since become good friends.
The Hockey Against Bullying campaign started with pink t-shirts and jerseys and has now expanded through social media. Porta has found more ways to raise money and awareness, hosting a bake sale to raise funds for the Amanda Todd Legacy Fund.
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