Mom brings anti-bullying program to Boardman schools after daughter's death

BOARDMAN

Bullying indirectly led to her daughter’s death, says Diane Demetrios.

Now Demetrios, of Boardman, is trying to make sure local kids don’t go through what her daughter, Leslie Marie, went through as a child.

Demetrios started Let’s Make a Difference earlier this year in honor of Leslie, who died last year from a drug overdose, at the age of 31.

“She was bullied as a child, [and] had very low self-esteem,” she said. “She would have made better choices” if she hadn’t been bullied.

“So I want to turn it around,” she said.

On Thursday Demetrios, her daughter-in-law Lora Demetrios, and staff from Making Kids Count, another local organization, stopped by all four of Boardman’s elementary schools to share an anti-bullying message.

Second-graders at the four schools listened as Lora read aloud “Billy Bully,” a children’s counting book about a character who loses his friends when he is mean to them and then gets them back by doing nice things.

“We are all different, and we all can be friends, and you are all special and unique in your own ways,” Lora told the rapt audience after she finished reading the book to them.

At the end of the program, each kid got a copy of the book to take home, totaling more than 350 books provided by Let’s Make a Difference and Making Kids Count.

Diane also set up a $500 scholarship at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, where Leslie went to high school.

Read more about the program in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.