As I said, there have been a bunch of variations on this article popping up, but there's the original from E!Online with Mark Malkin.
Vampire Diaries Star Ian Somerhalder's Wild Plan to End Bullying
Ian Somerhalder wants to take a bite out of bullying. And he's got a wild plan in mind. The Vampire Diaries star is building an eco-friendly green sanctuary for animals with behavioral issues on a farm he's in buying in Louisiana. In turn, he's establishing a program (in collaboration with his nonprofit, the Ian Somerhalder Foundation) to help "tried and true bona fide" bullies work through their issues by caring for the animals, most of whom also have behavioral problems.
"It's all about collaboration and compassion," Somerhalder told me this morning while promoting Clean Up Where You Live, Work & Play, his foundation's upcoming Earth Day initiative. (More on that next week.) "If you can empower someone who's really young, who's had a really tough go at it, to find compassion by using animals—because it's so much easier than with people—then you have something.
"Now you've started to engage these kids and they'll learn not to fight," he said. "They really realize what a full life you can have if you just get rid of those demons that we all have."
Fingers crossed.
Seriously, he's just so ... awesome. Just so freaking awesome.
Any members of 11:11, Make A Wish feel free to post this there if you want. (I posted the last gazillion things, so ... yeah.)
