Kemptville man walks 5.5km daily to raise anti-bullying awareness

KEMPTVILLE, ONT. -

Through wind, rain, snow and freezing temperatures, retired OPP officer Craig McCormick has been walking.

"A 32-day challenge that I'm going to do because I believe that bullying has no place in society," McCormick told CTV News Ottawa, ready to head out on his walk.

He's even equipped with special footwear, spiked cleats for that ice and snow.

"They have been on since day one!" he said.

McCormick has been walking 5.5 kilometres every day since Jan. 23, calling his campaign 'Take a Stand, Lend a Hand.'

McCormick walking on Tuesday. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

He's set to wrap up the challenge on Wednesday after walking 176 kilometres, coinciding with national Pink Shirt Day in Canada, a day to stand up against bullying.

"I thought it was appropriate to end the last 5.5 and get the message out," McCormick said. "It impacts our kids and youth, and we as a society need to do better because it's something that we can control, as far as bullying is concerned."

Along the way, McCormick has been selling pink t-shirts, hoodies and other items with the 'Take a Stand, Lend a Hand' logo he created.

"I wanted for it to be impactful, of course, and I wanted it to show that people care and that there's growing support to do something about bullying," he said. "Whether cyber bullying or in-person bullying, and that's how I came up with the logo. It covers pretty much everything; I thought it would be good."

A table of 'Take a Stand, Lend a Hand' merchandise. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

All proceeds of those sales go directly towards Kids Help Phone.

"24 hours a day, they are there for our youth. Text, email, phone calls," McCormick said. "I referred many youth during my career to that service and let me tell you they save lives. The stats are unbelievable."

McCormick says the walk takes a little more than an hour to complete and he's had support from all across the region.

"I love seeing it. I think he's a great person and a great advocate for that," said Jenn Lynch, an educational assistant at Westminster Public School in Brockville.

"I've watched his videos on Facebook and I get a kick out of how cold he is and everything else but he's dedicated! And he's a great person," Lynch said.

Lynch and Jodi Oliver-King, an early childhood educator at the school, are ready to discuss in-person and cyber bullying with their students on Wednesday.

"Those children that keep things inside sometimes, they need to be reminded that they can come to an adult at school or their parents and discuss things," Oliver-King said. "Obviously, it's very important and it starts in kindergarten when they first come through the door. We deal with that right here in kindergarten."

"We have a very open line of communication with the children, we talk about using our words a lot, we bring them back to discuss what happened and we used the words bully and the difference between being mean and being a bully because there is a big difference," she noted.

"You need to talk to your kids and it starts at such a young age and goes all the way through," added Lynch. "I think there is going to be a lot of kids rocking their pink shirts and pink hoodies."

"We usually have a very good turnout for that and then that of course brings out more dialogue but we talk about it every day, not just pink shirt day that's for sure," added Oliver-King.

McCormick says he's close to reaching his $1000 goal towards Kids Help Phone and is appreciative for all the support and messages.

He's even received permission from Los Angeles band Five for Fighting to use their song 'Superman' for his campaign.

"Everybody can be Superman or Superwoman and it kind of goes with the logo. If we can take a stand, we can change for the positive, so anybody can be a hero," McCormick said.

"The plan was to get the message out in 32 days, but also that tomorrow we all wear pink in solidarity and a strong message that bullying has no place in our society," he added.

"As a retired officer and now doing this is, I'm not stopping. I know that there is support and hopefully we see more in the future," McCormick said.

You can follow along on McCormick's final walk on his Facebook page or donate to Kids Help Phone directly.