Community center gives students safe, bully-free place to go

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — A family tragedy reportedly sparked by bullying could help protect other students from the same fate. Residents in New Smyrna Beach have come together to open a new facility where kids won't be bullied or feel alone.

The parents of 15-year-old Morgan Tuck said a mixture of bullying and depression led the teen to commit suicide in July.

"I think I'm still in denial about what happened," Morgan Tuck's mother Michelle Tuck said.

Since Tuck's death, the community has been creating a vision for a place where kids can come for free to feel welcome and safe.

"They have no place to go except go hang out," facility owner Shirley Boyce said.

The new community center is called Kook 386, which stands for 'Kids of our Kind.'

"Everything in here has been donated," Michelle Tuck said.

Boyce, the owner of the building, has vowed to renovate the exterior out of her own pocket.

"I believe in this cause," Boyce said.

The building used to be home to a gymnastics and cheer studio, where Morgan Tuck spent a lot of her childhood.

WFTV