Evalene S. Campbell-Best - Vice President

Hello……..My name is Evie Campbell-Best. My husband, Dick Best, and I moved to Tehachapi just a little over 2 years ago. I had been trying for a number of years to relocate to Tehachapi as my heart longed to be in this beautiful, quaint and peaceful community. Within a month of moving here I took the position of Welcome Hostess for Tehachapi, meeting and welcoming our new residents and writing a column about them in The Loop Newspaper. I have bragged to each of our newcomers about the fantastic little town of which they had just become a part, and that we are just one big happy family here. Dick and I have felt so grateful to be able to live in this wonderful place and thank God every day for letting us be here.

In September of this year, my world was really rocked. My beautiful little town had experienced a tragedy that should never have happened. My heart was absolutely broken when I heard about Seth and the suffering he had experienced that brought him to the end of his life. Oh, how I hurt for him, his mother and the rest of his family. Then I began to hear many stories of other children who had also experienced bullying. This was just not acceptable to me and really touched home for me. My now 45 year old son had tried to end his life with some pills at age 14. He too, had been tormented by some of the same pain as Seth went through. I, however, was fortunate enough to find him in time to get him to the hospital and have his stomach pumped. It took many years and lots of love for my son to rise above his pain, but I can gratefully say he is doing very well now and has been able to give much back to his family and all those with whom he comes into contact.

It has now become my goal to do as much as possible to work within our community to bring about an end to bullying and make our town a safe and peaceful place for all our children in which to grow up. Bullying is something that should not be tolerated at any level. Everyone, young and old, is special in his or her own