Phil Mick has been having a rough time with bullies at his middle school in Indiana, so he got a bit of help for his first day from some friends — a few dozen bikers who escorted him into school.
The 11-year-old was nervous to start his first day of sixth grade, the Associated Press reported, so a friend of the family reached out to some fellow bikers to see what they could do to help him. Brent Warfield, who works for a motorcycle dealership, decided to put a message out of Facebook to see who might be able to show up to help him.
Warfield said he knows the very real effects of bullying and decided he would do something to help.
“As a motorcycle community, we don’t want to see children getting bullied, because it leads to teenage suicide,” he told the New York Post .
Warfield got quite a response, with dozens of bikers saying they wanted to step in and offer some support to the bullied boy. The group showed up for the boy’s first day of school, saying a prayer with the family before they escorted Phil Mick into the building.
Although the motorcyclists made quite a roar with their engines, Principal Matt Vance told the Associated Press that he didn’t mind the display.
“Standing up against bullying – we need more of that,” Vince said by phone. “And they did it in a positive way.”
50 bikers escort bullied boy to first day of middle school https://t.co/bgya9fA9en
— johnmccaa (@johnmccaa) August 5, 2017
Phil Mick was being bullied at school, then he found some new friends to help him out: https://t.co/oH4WSjdYFi
— WTHR.com (@WTHRcom) August 3, 2017
This is not the first time that a community has rallied around a bullied child. Back in 2011, Philadelphia Eagles star DeSean Jackson made a surprise visit to a 13-year-old who was seen being beaten and tormented by bullies in a viral video, ABC News reported. The boy, Nadin Khoury, appeared on The View along with his mother and spoke about how he was targeted by bullies for his small size.
During the appearance, Jackson came out and surprised Khoury, presenting the Eagles fan with a jersey.
“You’re brave, because this happens every day and people are not brave enough to stand up and take this on,” DeSean Jackson told the boy.
Phil Mick’s motorcycle escort has already made a difference at his middle school. The principal said the incident has encouraged other people to take a stand against bullying and report it when they see it taking place.
[Featured Image by the_guitar_mann/iStock]
