EDMONTON – It’s an annual event dedicated to the memory of an Edmonton teen who was stabbed to death on his birthday in November 2006. The seventh annual E.V.A.N.’s Game (End Violent Acts Now) – a charity soccer match – was held Saturday afternoon, to remember and honour Evan Grykuliak.
“He was inspirational and I looked up to him very highly,” said Dan Adock, one of Grykuliak’s close friends.
After his death, the Evan Grykuliak Memorial Society was created. Since its inception in 2007, the society’s main focus has been to eradicate bullying. The EGM Society has partnered with several local schools to bring anti-bullying programs to their students.
“I feel that bullying is very significant. You ask any adult, kid, bullying has impacted their life in one way or another and there has been a lot of lives lost because of bullying,” Adock explained. “Education is so huge and it’s really common language, getting everybody to recognize the different types of bullying, what to do, and the education on preventing it in years to come.”
The money raised at Evan’s game each year goes directly towards supporting anti-bullying programs at six local schools. One of those schools is Scott Robertson Elementary in north Edmonton, which has been running the ‘Leader in Me’ program for three years.
“We have seen some phenomenal results,” said Principal Aryn Ford. “Students are loving it. When we have new students come to the school we have a whole team that takes them on and starts to teach them about the ‘Leader in Me.’ And their response is that, when a child might make a poor choice, that we don’t do business like that around here.
“We make sure that we take responsibility for ourselves and that we treat everyone with respect.”
Students at Scott Robertson were recently asked make posters about what they’ve learned about bullying, and both Ford and Adock were extremely impressed by what they’ve learned.
“It’s been really powerful and quite rewarding to see,” Ford said.
“Seeing those posters makes it worth what I’m here today to do,’ Adock added. “That’s our reward: to see the kids faces, to go to the launches, the kick-offs for these great programs and see how it is affecting students.”
Saturday’s soccer game featured a group of Evan’s friends, who played on his original team, in a friendly match against the community men’s team, the Glenora Greybeards.
“It would put a smile on his face. We always said ‘Evan: born with a smile.’ And he would be very proud and it would mean a lot to him to see what he has brought to our community and how we all came together in memory of him and made such an impact on the world as we know it,” said Adock.
Evan’s Game raised over $18,000 last year.
With files from Cheryl Oates, Global News.
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