Glenview business owners come together for anti-bullying campaign

GLENVIEW, Ill. (WLS) -- Local business owners in the Glenview are joining forces to spark a conversation on the issue of bullying.

The community based organization is called "Take No Bullying," an idea sparked by four people who know the pain of bullying.

"Being someone that was bullied myself I had enough, enough was enough," said Chris Falcon.

Enough for Falcon to start "Take No Bullying" an organization dedicated to raising awareness of bullying and its long term affects.

"I was always one of the biggest kids there so they would pick on me in numbers and groups and there is nothing you can do," he said. "We think that it happens when you make it through that it's over, but it's really not."

Now he hopes to use the weight of his past to empower others and use these stickers to spark conversation.

"So the same way you go to these business ad you see he gun signs there, you know everyone knows what I'm talking about when you see those no gun signs on the door. We wanted to try to do the same thing in a way. Just kind of use a little bit of subtle influence to go ahead and kind have a conversation about something that might kind of normally be ignoring," Falcon said.

So far more than fifty businesses have the stickers on display. It's just the first step in encouraging people to speak up.

"If there is a problem that they should tell someone about it, not just keep it to themselves," said Carolyn Orsi, treasurer of Take No Bullying.

"I like knowing that if there is a child out there scared, afraid to admit what's happening they might see our sticker and go to our website and seek out help," said Marcy Pettersen, vice president of Take No Bullying.

"I would like to see us form a model in Glenview and this area that so solid that we can kind of take that and move it from community to community to community," said Lisa Sasynnestvedt, secretary of Take No Bullying.

"It's empowering some of these kids to want to stand up against bullying. It's empowering these kids to know they do have people and a community and people that are working behind the scenes to stand up and advocate for them," Falcon said.

Falcon says there are more than 2,000 business registered in Glenview and wants stickers in each and every window.

For more information on Take No Bullying, visit www.takenobullying.org.