Go purple on October 16, 2014 for #spiritday to support LGBT youth and stand against bullying

Our CSR business values are an integral part of who we are as a corporation and those values are reflected in the environmental and social mandates that govern our business. Included in these mandates is our belief in equality and inclusion and that belief extends beyond our workplace and into our local and global communities. An example is our pride in our staunch support of the LGBT community and being located in Toronto, we recently celebrated World Pride with inspired posts like Toronto #WorldPride Month Kicks off with #ProudToPlay, the 10 Most Gay Friendly Countries in the World, the 10 best cities for LGBT 20-Somethings, the It Got Better Docuseries looks at the other side of It Gets Better to inspire LGBT Youth and Marriott and Allstate Celebrate Inclusion with #LoveTravels and #OutHoldingHands Campaigns. Today I’m writing about #spiritday another LGBT event that Miratel has taken the pledge to support throughout our offices on October 16th as we have done last year.

Now in its 5th year, #spiritday was originally the brainchild of a teenager who wanted to “remember those young people who lost their lives to suicide and to take a stand against bullying.” From his idea, #spiritday grew with the involvement of GLAAD who “worked to involve millions of teachers, workplaces, celebrities, media outlets and students in going purple on social media or wearing purple, a color that symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag.”

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and #spiritday will be taking place on Thursday October 16th; a day when we will all stand together – communities, corporations, celebrities, landmarks, faith groups, sports leagues, schools and so many more – to send a message of solidarity and acceptance to LGBT youth. Individuals and corporations – like Miratel – are encouraging employees to wear purple to show their support of this important day. Other ways businesses can show their support is by turning their logo purple on social media and also posting photos of your participation on social media with the hashtag #spiritday. The use of the hashtag #spiritday helps spread awareness of the event and its message across many social media platforms.

Companies who support #spiritday include CBS, Comcast-NBCUniversal, Disney/ABC Television Group, Facebook, HBO, Instagram, MTV, Tumblr and many more. Even television shows and celebrities went purple in 2013 like: The Today Show, Good Morning America The View, The Talk, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Oprah Winfrey, Demi Lovato, Chelsea Clinton, Reba McEntire, Laverne Cox, Ben Affleck, Nick Cannon, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Sir Ian McKellen, Shaquille O’Neal, Kerry Washington, Chelsea Handler, Andy Cohen, Margaret Cho, Chaz Bono, Conan O’Brien, Shonda Rhimes, Wendy Williams, and Zendaya amongst and more! This year the new Fox drama Red Band Society also announced that they would be participating in #spiritday. The new hit show is produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and stars Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer.

#spiritday has become the most visible day of support for LGBT youth

Join us in taking the pledge. Visit the #spiritday website today and check out the Resource Kit, take the pledge to participate, sign up to be a Spirit Day partner and/or donate to the #spiritday Fund which was created to support year-round anti-bullying efforts. You can also like GLAAD’s #spiritday  on Facebook and follow on Twitter and spread awareness to your social media networks. Knowledge is power.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including PCI compliant inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions  and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.