Red Wings, anti-abuse group team up to strike out bullying

Posted at: 08/19/2012 10:30 AM | Updated at: 08/20/2012 12:01 AM
By: Joangel Concepcion | WHEC.com

It was a perfect day for a ball game, and an even more perfect place to spread a very important message.

Gretchen DiFante, Executive Director of AGAPE Counseling, says "There's so many families here and young people and to be able to do anything we can to create awareness... it's a perfect venue for that."

The Red Wings teamed up with several local organizations to help put an end to bullying. They even brought in a very familiar face to kick off the game.

Karen Klein says, "It's been like a dream world that I've been in. It's almost like it's someone else that's doing this, not me."

She may be retiring from her job as a bus monitor after a video of teenagers bullying her went viral. But her efforts to stop bullying are far from over.

Klein says, "I want to keep their attention."

Several booths lined the halls of Frontier Field, where parents and kids united to talk about the very serious epidemic.

"It's marginalizing kids to the point where they are committing suicide."

Ray Antocicco is the Executive Director for the Citizens Against Teen Suicide and Bully Abuse. He thinks bullying stems from a vicious cycle that needs to end.

Antocicco talks about bullying from a different angle saying, "Compassion not just for the person that's being bullied but for the bully as well. Then we're going to help both sides and say there's a better way to handle this stuff."

He says it's important for parents to ask and listen and that the time is now to wake up and pay attention.

He says, "If we as a society don't say shame on us for not really trying to stop this then you know that's a real indictment of us as people."

For more information on the group, visit their website by clicking this link  or call Cayuga Family Center at 585-787-4287.

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