StandUp: Ben Cohen In Portland at Nike & Earth2World

Monday, 14 November 2011 11:41 | Written by Byron

Juan Martinez, Ben Cohen and Byron Beck StandingUp Against Bullying at NIKE Portland

STANDING WITH BEN: Today is StandUp Day. Don't know what that is? Well, then let's have rugby legend Ben Cohen tell you: "...it is time to stop the bullying. Young people's lives are being ruined and all it takes is the right person at the right time to stand beside them when it matters most to make the difference...The 14th of November marks the death of my father, Pete, who although he is no longer here, has been a massive influence on my life and one of the reasons that I felt compelled to start StandUp...Our aim is to bring awareness to the average person on the street who may not realise the harm that is being caused by bullying. By becoming aware, they may just be able to notice when something is not right and so stand up when needed before it is too late. The concept is simple, but very powerful...I will be asking people to stand up with me by wearing their StandUp T-shirt or wrist band, by telling at least one person about StandUp, posting or tweeting about how they are standing up, or simply changing their profile picture to the StandUp logo for the day...It is time to stand up against bullying and I am proud to be able to ask you to stand up with me."

Gentle Ben, a great guy and one of my personal heroes, has been on quite a roll since I had a chance to speak with him earlier this year (my complete interview is here).

Ben is currently on a whirlwind tour of the states in support of his StandUp Foundation—the world’s first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying, and funding those doing real-world work to stop it. Portland is the last stop on the tour. Today he will speak to students at Portland Community College.

But over the weekend my partner, Juan, and I had a chance to spend time with him. First up was at the studios of Earth2World.com where Ben, and his business partner, Jill Tipping, were guests of Ann Schatz's television show, "Heart of the Matter." On Sunday, after Ben had a chance to "work-out" with lucky locals on the Nike campus, we joined Ben at downtown Portland's brand new NIKE Portland where Ben chatted with the crowd, signed Nike-designed "StandUp" T-shirts (100-percent of proceeds go to support Ben's charity) and posed for photos with his fans. The first set of photos below is from NIKE Portland. The second set is from the Earth2World taping.