In September, the Community Kindness Movement (CKM), established in 2015 under the leadership of local mom Melissa Nelson, celebrates its tenth year of spreading kindness. This milestone, dedicated by Nelson to her daughter Makenna who is now a senior, continues to inspire efforts to combat suicide and bullying within and beyond the school district. This year, CKM is collaborating for the first time with the West Ada School District for Community Kindness Week, involving all 38 elementary schools and initiating children wearing yellow kindness shirts every Thursday. The initiative fosters awareness and partnership across various community sectors, promoting kindness through monthly themes and educational resources in schools and beyond.
CKM engages schools through kindness assemblies, showcasing videos of personal kindness stories. Last year they introduced a kindness theme song while this year they are collaborating with a videographer to compile narratives from Melissa and Makenna.
When Makenna was in second grade, she was bullied by a group of girls in her classroom. This continued and grew worse over several months. From being excluded from sleepovers to social isolation on the playground, the bullying left Makenna in tears daily as she got off the school bus. Despite Nelson's efforts to address the issue, the school did not resolve it.
"I prayed hard and was inspired by an article that covered the virtues of kindness," Nelson said. "It spoke about how genuine kindness can perform a change of heart in others."
A Movement Born from Heartbreak
After a tough day, Nelson kept Makenna and her brother home from school to perform acts of kindness. Together, they bought yellow roses—Makenna's favorite—and anonymously delivered 26 single roses to the school, including to the girls who had bullied her. This simple act sparked the beginning of change. A few days later, Nelson learned from another parent that Makenna wasn't the only victim of bullying.
From Parade Floats to Kindness Ambassadors
After the school year came to an end Nelson was inspired to take kindness into pageantry as she held the title Mrs. Pocatello at the time. To encourage children to be kinder, she let kids do kind acts and share them on her website for a chance to ride the float with her for the Fourth of July parade. She made crafted iron-on kindness shirts in red, white, and blue emblazoned with "Kindness Begins with Me."
“It was awesome having a parade float full of kids; that's how all of this began,” Nelson said. “It wasn’t something I decided to do one day; it came to me out of inspiration.”
In 2019, Governor Brad Little proclaimed the first Idaho Community Kindness Week. The goal is to expand beyond Idaho and have all states join in. Currently, CKM engages over 50 kindness ambassadors who promote weekly acts of kindness online and organize assemblies to foster community involvement. The movement's signature yellow shirts, originally inspired by yellow roses, have been funded for over 34,000 individuals, with businesses sponsoring and participating in events to amplify the message of kindness across Idaho.
Nelson plans to expand CKM with a new initiative called "52 Weeks of Kindness," offering weekly challenges for communities and schools.
To learn more or become a Kindness Ambassador, visit http://www.communitykindnessmovement.com. Follow CKM on Facebook and Instagram at @communityKindnessMovement for updates.
"How beautiful a day is when kindness touches it."