GRAMMY® nominated, Dove Award and Stellar Award winners Trin-i-tee 5:7’s Angel Taylor and Chanelle Haynes partner with STOMP Out Bullying™ as global ambassadors. STOMP Out Bullying™ is a national anti-bullying and cyber bullying program for kids and teens and is a signature program of Love Our Children USA™, the national leading nonprofit fighting all forms of violence and neglect against children in the U.S.
October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. As global ambassadors of STOMP Out Bullying™, Angel and Chanelle will visit high schools in tour markets to share their stories on bullying issues, and to offer encouraging words to help young kids cope with peer pressure. As a teenager, Chanelle Haynes was bullied. “To be bullied was one of the worst experiences of my teen years,” say Chanelle. “As a pastor’s daughter from a very religious household, kids would say really hurtful things to me. This caused me to become withdrawn and unhappy. I would do anything to avoid them. To be laughed at and disrespected was my normal. I would actually get sick on Sunday evening knowing that I had to go to school and face those same bullies. They talked about the way I dressed. I simply didn’t fit in, so one day I decided I didn’t want to fit in. Eventually, my parents took me out of that school. I learned the power of removing myself from the problem and placing myself in a space where I can thrive. Since then I have taken that approach in life.”
STOMP Out Bullying™ plays an important role in bullying and cyber bullying prevention, education and awareness. One out of four kids is bullied and 43 percent of teens, 97 percent of middle schoolers and 47 percent of older teens 18-24 are cyber bullied. As many as 160,000 students across the country stay home on any given day because they’re afraid of being bullied.
Ross Ellis, founder and CEO of STOMP Out Bullying™ and bullying Prevention expert said, “Some people think that bullying is ‘just a fact of life’ or ‘a rite of passage’ and they don’t take it seriously … until someone they know is hurt by bullying-or worse-they knew someone who took their life. Too many of our youths have taken their lives and we cannot allow one more kid or teen to attempt or commit suicide. We have to make them understand that nothing is worth taking their lives. Not even this insidious cruelty that is so painful. Parents, schools and communities must work to make the victims more resilient, change the behavior of the aggressors and instill upon other students to intervene.”
STOMP Out Bullying™ focuses on reducing and preventing bullying, cyber bullying, sexting and other digital abuse, educating against homophobia, racism and hatred, decreasing school absenteeism, and deterring violence in schools, online and in communities across the country. It teaches effective solutions on how to respond to all forms of bullying; as well as educating kids and teens in school and online, providing help for those in need and at risk of suicide, raising awareness and helping to establish peer mentoring programs in schools.
Angel and Chanelle Deluxe CD marks the duo’s seventh recording to date and the group’s transition from a trio to a duo. This month, the ladies were nominated for a 2011 Soul Train Music Award for Best Gospel Performance for their single, “Heaven Hear My Heart.” They were included in the same category with Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, CeCe Winans, and James Fortune featuring Shawn McLemore.