Sid Goodman of Puerto Vallarta Supports Foundation to Prevent Bullying Sid Goodman - My Bully Book
go to original June 13, 2015

An introduction to "BULLYING, Why would you want to do that?" (Foundation to Prevent Bullying)

The city of Puerto Vallarta is proud of local resident Sid Goodman and all his efforts to make the world a better place (not to mention Sid's World Famous Chili).

Thousands of children and young adults commit suicide each year due to bullying (CDC). Sid has launched a campaign in support of preventing bullying. You can help:

Greetings,

I’m Sid Goodman, CPA, inventor, author and entrepreneur, and I am asking for your help to fund a project near and dear to my heart.

Youth suicide rates are something you don't hear much about.

The CDC reports that there are about 4,400 suicide deaths annually among young people, and for every suicide there are 100 attempted suicides. Bullying plays a major role (up to 50%) in these attempts according to a recent study.

ABC News reported that nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and over 150,000 kids may stay home every day due to fear of being bullied.

New long-term study shows why bullying is a public health problem.

According to a recent article in the LA Times "Bullying may be responsible for nearly 30% of cases of depression among adults, a new study suggests. By tracking 2,668 people from early childhood through adulthood, researchers found that 13-year-olds who were frequent targets of bullies were three times more likely than their non-victimized peers to be depressed as adults". Here is the link to that story.

What can be done?

Over a decade ago, before it became a prominent issue, I decided that I had the time and resources to see what I might be able do. After two years of collaboration with a highly respected illustrator and an award winning elementary school educator, we decided that the best way to target bullying was to begin with students in the 1st through 5th grades. The result of our collaboration was a 24 page book, “BULLYING, Why would you want to do that?”

This beautifully illustrated and colorful booklet was inexpensive enough to give one book to each elementary student in a school system. It was designed to be used as a teaching aid and as an educational device for teachers, and then to be taken home to parents or guardians for reinforcement.

“BULLYING” was a hit, and in 2007 the book was awarded the Seal of Approval of the National Parenting Center. My book garnered the highest praises in every school system in which it was used.

Over 70,000 books have been used by students. However in  2010 printing was suspended due to the scarcity of funding available in school systems nationwide. They just had no money for new programs and it became economically unfeasible.

This brings me to why I am asking for your help. I want to provide, at little to no cost, millions of books to school systems around the country. With your support, and a donation of any amount we can achieve this goal together.

The Foundation to Prevent Bullying will use these funds to hire professionals to seek out and write the grant applications to solicit millions of dollars in grants from governmental agencies, foundations and private institutions. No salaries will be paid from these funds.

There is a lot of money available for worthy causes, and this certainly is one of them. Over the ensuing years we hope to raise sufficient grant money to offer a continuous stream of books to every school district in the United States.

One million dollars in cumulative government and corporate grants can purchase and distribute two to three million books. Imagine the impact that might make!

Some of the these funds may be used to create the Spanish version, update the current book based on feedback and to create an App for mobile phones and iPad type devices.

See the book online: www.MyBullyBook.com

Read the rest including the grant from Ellen DeGeneris and learn how you can help at Indiegogo.

Read related: Sid's World Famous Chili Now Offers Home Delivery in Vallarta-Nayarit