About Devin’s Foundation

Because of You, and your belief in our Organization, please take a few minutes to read what we’ve accomplished.

1) Brought in nationally recognized speaker, Brooks Gibbs, in March and September to speak, and teach students how to react to being bullied. (Students said ”(best assembly they’ve ever had.)” Received letters and emails, from students, on how much they learned.

2) Brought in country singer Jessie Chris, named 2018 Billboard artist to watch, here in December, who was bullied in middle school, to speak and perform and tell her story how she overcame being bullied.

3) Thru our efforts, reached 11 schools in 6 different school districts, and talked to over 3,000 students about how bullying can be dealt with, and how it can affect young adults and families.

4) Raised over $60,000 thru our fundraisers and private donors to help with giving our 1st scholarship to Kendall Falkenrath, who is in her first year of college, and doing very well.

5) Received the prestigious Presidents Club Executive Award from Ingram Micro, as one of the aspiring new charities, making a difference in our community, and being nationally recognized.

What we are working on for this year

1) We are continually, working on bringing more speakers in this year, who have experienced bullying, and how they overcame it.

2) We’ve been asked to talk to PTA groups, and more school districts are reaching out to us to visit their schools, and talk about our programs with students.

3) We were asked to be involved in a task force committee, that is being put together by the Honorable Erie County Family Court Judge Brenda Freedman, to address bullying in our area.

4) Our organization is growing with more volunteers, and now we are also looking at putting a staff together, to reach out to larger companies for their support, and reach more students.

5) We have 5 students who will qualify for scholarships this year in 3 different schools, and 3 additional students who are interested.

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Sharing Devin’s Message to help families cope with bullying

The family of a teenager who took his life last spring is trying to convince schools to adopt a special anti-bullying program. WBFO’s senior reporter Eileen Buckley says the Devin’s Message Foundation was created by the grandfather of the 15-year-old teen.

Read more: click here.

Devin Daniel Kurzdorfer was a sophomore at Kenmore West High School when 2 months before summer vacation he tragically took his own life.

He was diagnosed with a high functioning form of autism and ADHD at an early age. While he was very young he took a liking to radios, speakers and electronics in general. Despite the challenges he was faced with he was exceptionally bright. While still in grammar school he could completely wire a surround sound system on his own, something many adults would have trouble with. Devin was creative, he would build speaker boxes from anywhere he could rustle up the parts and rewire them to run on Bluetooth. Devin was accepted into BOCES for their Electrical Systems Program, he wanted to be an Electrician.

Devin was the life of the party, he always ran the sound system at family gatherings and for his friends. He was kind, he would stop and help anybody in need. He had a giant heart & smile, he always wanted the best for sisters, his cousins and his friends. He was loved and is greatly missed.

An annual memorial scholarship will be setup in his honor. The topic is Anti Bullying. It is to help ensure that others who suffer from bullying do not share his fate.

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