Thank You, Michael Jackson

You may wonder why we're thanking Michael Jackson. Fair enough. The answer is best seen, not read. Go to this link and watch the Humanity Project's latest offering, "If You Help Someone." www.youtube.com/hpflorida. Loosely based on MJ's classic video "Beat It," we use child dancers and actors in our own tale of bullying -- and how to stop it. You'll hear original music that's very different anything Jackson did -- but that also sends a strong message young kids will remember. (While you're at our YouTube site, also check out the other videos, especially the wonderful news story about last year's anti-bullying Thousand Youth March for Humanity.) We think these videos will make you smile! Thanks MJ ... and thanks to you for your interest and support!

Big Thanks to Children’s Services Council!

For the second consecutive year, Children’s Services Council of Broward County has become a sponsor of the Humanity Project. We’re proud of our association with this distinguished tax-funded organization. And we’re appreciative of their continued enthusiasm for our work, an enthusiasm that once more takes tangible, meaningful form as monetary support for the Humanity Project. Last year, Children’s Services Council of Broward County helped us pay the costs for our Thousand Youth March for Humanity, the nation’s first mass children’s march against bullying. (If you haven’t yet, check out this news report about that march. It’ll make you smile! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4dIhJR_D_k. ) As you see, CSC plays a vital role in South Florida’s efforts to help kids – and they do a great job of it! Many thanks to CSC’s president and CEO, Cindy J. Arenberg Seltzer and her great staff for this important boost to the Humanity Project’s efforts. We are, again, enormously grateful.

Psychological Boost

Lots more folks are learning a little more information each month about the Humanity Project, partly through our free monthly email newsletter as well as our podcasts and blogs. Learning about who we are, what we do, where we’re going. As this happens, we’re definitely finding that our group is attracting a diverse collection of bright, involved people. Increasingly, this includes psychologists. So we’re very pleased that the Florida Psychological Association, Broward Chapter, is running an article about the Humanity Project’s anti-bullying efforts in its current newsletter. Our work includes an original anti-bullying program for elementary school kids. Empirical evidence shows our program really works. We hope many more psychologists will want to meet us personally in the weeks ahead -– and ultimately become involved directly with the Humanity Project. We’re genuinely grateful that this distinguished professional organization now has placed the Humanity Project on its radar screen. Many thanks to Dr. Heather Jordan Clark and Dr. Amy Danser, newsletter co-editors. Perhaps we might suggest that you folks consider a newsletter article about our blog article about your newsletter article??
:-)) Just kidding ... (BTW, if you want to receive our fun, informative and FREE email newsletter each month, just email us at rsk@thehumanityproject.com. Put “newsletter” in the subject line and you’ll get this month’s issue emailed back to your return email address. See? Some things in life ARE free!! Thx!)

Website Improvements For You!

Please make sure to see the significant additions to our website. If you go to our home page at www.thehumanityproject.com, you'll find two new menu items: YouTube Channel and NING Network. Click on the YouTube Channel to see an uplifting five-minute news story about our Thousand Youth March for Humanity, the nation's first ever mass children's march against bullying. The Humanity Project conceived and organized the march, and lead it to a huge success last November. The other website addition is our NING Network, which will bring you to a whole alternative website for The Humanity Project -- one with pictures of the march as well as informative anti-bullying videos and other resources related to our work. A BIG shoutout of thanks to our remarkable volunteer, Cheryl-Ann Henry, for tackling this web work for us. Eventually you'll find a completely redesigned website, with a bold new look as well as new features and new information that you can use. For now, enjoy the changes Cheryl made possible for us. And please, pass our website along to friends and family! We need your help for The Humanity Project to keep growing! Thanks!! ;-))

Anti-bullying … “Party”??

Yep. No joke. This is your chance to do good and feel good – and have a good time! We just gave two more great presentations of The Humanity Project anti-bullying program to elementary school kids. Thousands of children clearly are “getting” our message: bullying hurts everyone in school and everyone must help stop it. But we’re still lacking the final important component of this program … lacking it for the usual reason. Money. We have recorded another very cool original kids song, “If Ya Help Someone” and plan to turn this into a terrific MTV-style music video. It’ll really help drive home our point at the end of each program. We’ll also make it available to the general public for free on YouTube. We need around $3,000 to create, direct and produce a high-quality professional music video. You can help us make that video a permanent part of our unique original anti-bullying program … just by having a “Freedom from Bullying Party” sometime around the 4th of July holiday. It won’t cost you much: not much time, not much money, not much hassle. Here’s details of the idea (which was suggested by our great volunteer, Rebecca!):

** Invite from 5 – 15 friends to your 4th of July holiday wingding. Have the party when it’s most convenient for everyone, but ideally sometime near the 4th weekend.
** Ask each guest to bring something for the party: bottle of wine, six-pack of soft drinks, bag of chips, etc. Not much expense there, right?
** Tell each person about the important idea behind these parties: To free kids from bullying!! Request that each guest contribute just $20 to that cause.(We can give you receipts for each tax-deductible $20 donation!)
** Have a blast for freedom over our national holiday – knowing that you’re also helping kids become free of bullying. This gives your 4th of July party a whole new, very satisfying spin!
** After your party, just email us at rsk@thehumanityproject.com or call 954-205-2722. We’ll tell you how you can easily get the money to us over the Internet or where to mail the money you collected.

That’s it! No hassles at all, really! We’ve already got several parties lined up but need a whole bunch more to make that anti-bullying video a reality for the kids. Please help us. We need you! (And if you’re still not too familiar with The Humanity Project, check out our new presence on YouTube: www.youtube.com/hpflorida . You may want to include that link in your “Freedom from Bullying Party” email invites too!!)

Thank You, State Farm!

Once again, our Good Neighbors have come through for us. State Farm Insurance has just signed on as a sponsor of The Humanity Project’s innovative anti-bullying program for elementary school students. This month, more than 1,400 kids will learn why bullying hurts everyone in their school – and how they can stop it in appropriate ways. Many thousands more will hear that same lesson in the coming weeks. Our program was approved by psychologists, educators and prevention specialists for use here in Broward County, Florida – the nation’s sixth largest school district. But we can’t get it to the kids who need it without money. So three State Farm agency field executives stepped up to help, just as they did for our Thousand Youth March for Humanity last November. The Humanity Project gives a big thanks again to Eugene Dixon, Craig Holloway and John Gentry for bringing State Farm to this cause. They understand how important it is to stop the school bullying that damages, sometimes destroys, young lives. And like the good neighbors they are, Mr. Dixon, Mr. Holloway and Mr. Gentry are doing something about it. We offer them our heartfelt thanks.

A Plan to Stop Bullying – and Much More

The Humanity Project has been very busy again. Sorry for the long gap between blogs, but we’ll try to do better in the near future. We’re still new and small – but we’re working on some ambitious plans. Those plans include, well, another type of plan. A plan to stop bullying in the schools. We have created an innovative anti-bullying program for elementary school students. It’s been approved by psychologists, educators and prevention specialists in the nation’s sixth largest school district. It is available to other school districts as well. Contact us and we’ll tell you all about it! We also have exciting news about a new website just for kids. It will be called www.thp4kids.com – get it? As in, “The Humanity Project 4 Kids.” We’ve already created an outline of some truly cutting-edge interactive features that will keep kids 8 – 14-years-old coming back day after day. And what will they learn? How to stop bullying, yes. But a lot more too. We’ll teach human values in new, entertaining ways to any child with access to a computer. Values like self-respect, respect for others, perseverance to fulfill their potential and lots more. We believe we have the background in our organization to pull this project off successfully. Now we need major sponsors to help us. If you’d like to know more, again, just go to the Contact Us page on www.thehumanityproject.com. Together, we will make a difference in the future of our kids.

Frequently Asked Questions: Thousand Youth March for Humanity

Q: What are the basic details? Who is doing this? Where, when, etc.?

Conceived and organized by the nonprofit group, The Humanity Project, the Thousand Youth March for Humanity will bring together more than 1,000 students, grades K – 12, to march for an end to school bullying. The march will be held on Sunday, November 16, 2008, rain or shine. It will begin at Huizenga Plaza in downtown Fort Lauderdale and proceed for 8/10ths of a mile through closed, police-protected streets back to the plaza for a rally with bands, balloons, brief speeches and a call-and-response anti-bullying chant from the crowd.

Q: What time should participants arrive and how long will the march and rally be?

The march begins promptly at 1 p.m. Walking time is likely to be about 45 minutes for all marchers to complete the route. The rally will begin immediately after the march itself and will end by 3 p.m. Participants should arrive by noon on march day and will be free to go right after the rally ends. Buses will line up at 3 p.m. to pick up students who came by bus.

Q: What is the march route?

The march will begin at the plaza, located on the corner of Andrews Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard, then head north to Broward Boulevard, east to SE 3rd Avenue, south to Las Olas Boulevard, then west on Las Olas back to the plaza. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, volunteers and the public will gather in the plaza and street for the rally.

Q: You said “rain or shine.” This march really will happen even if it rains?

Definitely. Even if it rains. In fact, this strong statement against bullying becomes even stronger if students turn out in large numbers despite challenging weather. Just bring ponchos, umbrellas or whatever else you need to stay dry.

Q: I’d like to know more about the reasons behind the march and about The Humanity Project.

Go to their website at www.thehumanityproject.com and listen to their September podcast or read their blogs about the march.

Q: Ok, how can I take part?

Contact The Humanity Project’s president and founder, Bob Knotts, at 954-205-2722 or email him at rsk1writer@bellsouth.net.

Q: Where should I park for the march?

The public parking garage near the main library has plenty of room. There’s also public parking at garages just north and west of the plaza in the Riverwalk area. Make sure to arrive early so you can find a good space and get to the march at noon.

Q: How do I volunteer to help?

Again, call or email The Humanity Project at the number or address listed above.

Q: I know someone who might want to sponsor or donate to help pay for this important event. How can they do that?

The Humanity Project is urgently seeking sponsors and donors to cover the substantial costs of the Thousand Youth March for Humanity. In return, those sponsors and donors will be given broad public exposure for their community involvement through the media, Internet, flyers, banners and more. Just call 954-205-2722 to help. Our current sponsors now include Nova Southeastern University, Florida Marlins, AutoNation, Children's Services Council, Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon, Freeman Orthodontics, Framing By Morris, Downtown Development Authority, State Farm and Office Depot Foundation.

Marching Forward

At The Humanity Project, we’re very pleased. The Broward School Board, which runs the sixth largest school district in the United States, has officially declared Sunday, November 16, “Thousand Youth March for Humanity Day.” This unprecedented event will bring together students from kindergarten through 12th grade to take back their schools from the bullies. Thank you for this honor, Broward School Board. We also want to thank our growing list of sponsors, which now includes Nova Southeastern University, Florida Marlins, State Farm, AutoNation, Freeman Orthodontics, Downtown Development Authority, Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon and Children’s Services Council of Broward County. Next month, we all will join together with thousands of students and community groups and churches and arts organizations with one simple purpose: to make bullying socially unacceptable. We hope you’ll want to help our effort in whatever ways you can. Just go to the Contact Us page at www.thehumanityproject.com to call or email for more information. Or donate at our Join/Donate page at this same website. Thanks!

Thousand Youth March for Humanity

I hope you’ll listen to our new podcast, which is titled exactly the same as this blog: “Thousand Youth March for Humanity.” It will explain more than I can in this brief space about the unprecedented event The Humanity Project is organizing and leading this fall. On Sunday, November 16, we’ll head up a march of more than 1,000 school kids, grades K – 12, to stop school bullying. Think about that. When is the last time you’ve heard of students from five-years-old to 18-years-old coming together for anything? Then ask yourself when you’ve heard of kids from vastly different economic and ethnic backgrounds supporting the same cause. Then think about this: Have you ever heard of a massive number of students marching to take back their own schools from the bullies? I suspect the answer to all those questions is that, no you haven’t heard about this before. That’s why the Thousand Youth March for Humanity is unique. Our sponsors right now include the Florida Marlins, AutoNation, Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon, Downtown Development Authority and Children’s Services Council. But we need more sponsors and donors – lots more. An event this huge doesn’t come cheap. We hope the whole community will come together to say that bullying must be seen as socially unacceptable from now on, like drunk driving. Bullying is dangerous. Bullying damages and sometimes destroys young lives. This march can be the beginning of a new attitude about school abuse and violence. Because bullying isn’t just kids being kids. It’s kids harming kids. This march is our chance to join together and deliver one simple, powerful message about bullying: “Enough!”