Meet Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, the courageous mother of slain teen Blaze Bernstein. She and her husband were thrown into public roles after their 19-year-old son Blaze Bernstein, a University of Pennsylvania sophomore, returned to his family home in Lake Forest for winter break and was killed. Authorities considered Blaze a victim of a hate crime because he was both gay and Jewish. In this episode, Jeanne explains how instead of shutting the world out after discovering their son’s death, they decided to turn the world into a stage for change. The couple created a movement called “Blaze It Forward” to encourage people to honor their son’s memory by spreading kindness. The community interacts via their #BlazeItFoward Facebook page and nearly five years later, the group is 30,000+ strong with daily contributors from all around the world. #BlazeItForward! “The main reason why we started the ‘Blaze It Forward Movement’ was to try to show everyone around us that you can still move forward and try to make this world a better place. We built a community that has surrounded us with love,” said Jeanne Pepper.
LINKS:
Blaze It Forward Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/blazeitforward/
Website: https://blazebernstein.org/
“We feel like it’s our moral obligation to try and make positive change in the world. Our son lived in a world where the LGBTQ+ Community did not feel safe and can’t be who they are. We can’t live in that world anymore. We’ve suffered enough,” said Jeanne Pepper.“