About Us

A Message From Samantha Boyle, Luken’s Mother

Right after Luken passed away, while writing his obituary, family was suggesting a lot of National organizations against bullying to put as a place to donate in lieu of flowers. It hit me right then and there that we needed to do something locally with Lukens name and face attached to it. The name came to me and then I had no idea what exactly we would do. In that first week after losing Luke, there were very dark times when I would have flashbacks and all I could see were the images of my son, lifeless, I would relive feverishly breathing life into him, desperate for him to breathe, knowing he was gone, pleading with God to bring him back to me. Now I found myself pleading and praying to God to please put something else in the place of those images. My heart couldn’t take the flashbacks over and over. God answered my pleas because that’s when I started seeing myself sharing Luken’s story with the youth of our City. How it progresses from there is easy because of Luken. 

Luken is the reason I was able to come up with the ideas behind the Campaign because of the way he lived his life. He was a genuinely kind young man. He was the type of kid who would hug me and tell me he loved me, even as his friends stood around to watch. He didn’t care. He always told me how much he appreciated me, because as a single mom I was doing a great job and he never felt slighted because I was more than enough for him. He was full of love and light and compassion. No one was ever alone or lonely when Luken was around. His ability to see the good in everything and everyone is what helped to bring the ideas to fruition. A lot of parents think their kids are special and say good things, but Luken was the real deal. He stood out because he didn’t act like the other kids his age. He was never mean, or unkind. He was gentle, while still being confident enough to stand up for himself and others. Especially his siblings. Luken has always been the inspiration. It felt natural and just like the right thing to do, with Luken’s energy and light guiding every step of the Campaign. 

Starting the Campaign was never really a choice, it was just what needed to be done because of the way our youth speak to each other and treat each other. They have been desensitized to the phrase “go kill your self” and use it as a way to dismiss each other when they don’t like someone. It’s scary how they use those words so often, some going as far as showing another person how they need to off themselves. I knew this needed to change. The set of circumstances that led to Luken taking his life were all too cruel and too awful to sit by and do nothing. It was too easy for Luken to think that taking his life was the solution and I believe it’s because of the way kids talk to each other using the terms mentioned above. 

I had heard all about national bullying prevention groups, always telling kids what not to do, so I wanted to start this to show kids what they can do, how they can get outside of themselves and go above and beyond what is expected of us, which came very easily to me, because I had a living example for 14 years on how to live life full of kindness and love.