A group of ten motorcyclists joined forces this morning in Sherwood Park to give a bullied teenager an unforgettable ride to school.
The bikers are organized by Steve Enns who founded a group calling Bullying Enns last year. The group aims to help bullied kids feel supported by giving them free rides to or from school.
“Number one, it’s an ego boost for the kid. They’re kind of beaten-down, head low. We show up there, they’re excited. They’ve got friends backing them,” Steve Enns said.
On Friday morning, the motorcycle group picked up grade 7 student Sarah Milne.
“It just started out as me being the weird kid. The kid who liked art and musical theatre and who didn’t exactly fit in,” Sarah said.
But it escalated from there, Sarah said. Name calling and teasing wasn’t the worst of it though. Sarah recently found a threatening card in her sketchbook.
Sarah said she started to withdraw, spending long hours alone in her room. She lost her appetite and had trouble sleeping too.
“It made me feel empty, that I was worthless and nobody loved me. I had no purpose,” Sarah explained.
Sarah’s mother, Carolyn Milne, struggled to watch her daughter feel so hopeless.
“I really started to fear that she would harm herself.”
That’s when a volunteer from Bullying Enns reached out. They offered Sarah a free ride — and more importantly, support.
“It made me feel really special when they said that they would do this just for me. It’s really helped a lot to know that there are people that I don’t even know who are supporting me,” Sarah said.
Enns said he loves the reaction he gets from the kids the group tries to help.
“The smiles, the excitement. It’s like watching a child Christmas morning.”
Sarah’s reaction was priceless.
“I arrived at school and all the kids were coming up and being excited at all the bikes,” Sarah said.
With a smile ear to ear, she confidently walked through the school on her own — something she hasn’t been comfortable doing lately.
“This has raised her up to almost the same girl she was before. That’s what I want. I want her to be feeling happy and confident with herself,” Carolyn said.
As for the bullies — Enns says he wants bullying to stop but added, the group would never call-out a bully.
“We never know who they are, and if we did, they’d get smiles and jokes just like the bullied kid.”
This year, Bullying Enns has done about 10 rides, one as far away as Red Deer. They coordinate efforts through their Facebook page and are always looking for new volunteers and also other kids in need of a ride.
“I’ve never had to go back to a school. It just seems to be working, what can I say?” he laughed.
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