You might think it would be kind of slow at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) this time of year, but unfortunately, we're busy all year long.

Hatred, anti-Semitism, prejudice, bullying and cyberbullying never seem to take a holiday. In fact, they can occur anywhere, anytime, in schools, in offices, in neighborhoods, even in cyberspace.

Our Southwest Regional Office is one of nearly 30 in the United States, and it is responsible for answering complaints from El Paso to Beaumont and all points south in Texas. We receive hundreds of complaints a year from this region alone.

You'll be glad to know ADL has numerous resources to help you with all these complaints and issues, and we stand ready to help. As a civil-rights organization with a mission "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all," we address all forms of hatred, but lately we have been focusing on bullying and cyberbullying.

Both have been in the news recently, partly because the consequences of bullying and cyberbullying can be disastrous, but also because almost everybody has been touched by it. Odds are you, a friend, or a child of a friend have been bullied either in person or by text message, e-mail, or on a social network.

Cyberbullying pervades every facet of our lives, and because it involves speech, this inappropriate form of communication is often protected by the First Amendment. Though a difficult issue, the Anti-Defamation League, never one to shy away from complicated situations, has been in the forefront of fighting bullying and cyberbullying for many years.

The ADL has produced a special website designed to fight bullying and cyberbullying: www.adl.org/combatbullying -- which includes lesson plans, curricula, bibliographies and recommendations for preventing and responding to bullying and cyberbullying.

Recently, ADL addressed bullying and cyberbullying with nearly 1,000 students and more than 100 educators at No Place for Hate youth summits in Houston and Austin. Those summits also were designed to help start or reinvigorate the No Place for Hate Initiative on participating campuses.

The ADL's No Place for Hate Initiative, celebrating its 10th anniversary, is now in more than 300 schools in ADL's Southwest Region helping K-12 campuses create learning environments that reject prejudice and bias, fight bullying and promote respect and acceptance.

El Paso's Canutillo Independent School District is implementing No Place for Hate in many of its schools and working toward a district-wide No Place for Hate designation. We hope other El Paso schools will help us promote respect and fight hatred by participating in our No Place for Hate campaign.

ADL fights bias and hatred in so many other ways: by strengthening hate-crime laws, monitoring extremists, and providing hate-crimes training and training on how to recognize extremists and their symbols to law enforcement; by providing assistance to the victims of hate incidents and hate crimes; by working to create interfaith understanding through the region's Coalition for Mutual Respect; and by stopping prejudice before it takes hold with many proactive workshops, including the A World of Difference Institute anti-bias and diversity training workshops, and our Miller Early Childhood Initiative that fights bias in children as young as 3.

Bullying, cyberbullying, anti-Semitism, and discrimination get worse when we ignore them. They won't go away without a concerted effort. Together, we can push back hatred. For the sake of our children and our community, we must. ADL will partner with you in this effort every step of the way.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.