Vancouver Island InsuranceCentres' (VIIC) involvement in Pink T-shirt Day has grown this year.
The company distributed 20,000 pink T-shirts, free of charge, to school-aged children on Vancouver Island, which is up from about 12,000. About 2,500 T-shirts were given out in the Comox Valley this year.
Also, new this year, VIIC launched PinkWall.ca, which was designed to create awareness about bullying all year long, according to Tracey Drake, marketing director for VIIC.
"Bullying just doesn't happen one day a year," said Drake. "It definitely is a year-round problem, and we're going to leave (the website) up and social media does its magic that way — that we're able to just continue to build and grow."
Launched in mid-January, the website has a Stand Up Against Bullying Wall, which is a virtual Facebook wall where anyone can 'like' PinkWall.ca, sign their name to the growing list of supporters, share PinkWall with their FB network of friends, or leave a message to show support for the initiative.
According to Drake, the website's popularity has been growing; PinkWall.ca recently had a 355-per-cent increase in visits from one week to the next.
"It's been amazing," said Drake. "It's sort of that domino effect with social media where one person tells another."
She also said that other companies have asked VIIC how they can get t-shirts and how they can get involved.
This year is the third year that VIIC has supported Pink T-shirt Day, and Drake expects the company will do even more to spread the anti-bullying message next year.
"Next year, we're definitely going to ramp up to have more community involvement," said Drake. "The goal is to make bullying an open topic of conversation and specifically, in every classroom and around every dinner table at home."
VIIC's involvement started when VIIC Nanaimo's employee Karen Tchamourian brought forward the idea three years ago.
"The issue was very near and dear to her heart," said Drake. "Things like that, that are important to the staff, the company really gets behind it."
Premier Christy Clark, who initially brought Pink T-shirt Day to B.C. in 2008, has also joined forces with VIIC to talk about this growing problem. To listen to Premier Clark's message, or for more information about Pink T-shirt Day, visit www.PinkWall.ca.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com