Andrew Crighton

Editor-in-Chief

From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday evening Old Town Pocatello was a buzz with the sound of generators, the smell of food trucks and the thump of amplifiers. What resembled a small street fair was constructed within several square blocks of the Center Street underpass with the booths of businesses in the area, local organizations and on campus groups. There was even a bouncy castle and inflatable obstacle course. Local bands played on an outdoor stage throughout the evening, entertaining attendees through the night’s rain, including the local Kyd J Band, who closed out the evening and announced the relighting of the iconic neon of The Paris building.

This whole event was the Kick Off Celebration for Kind Week 2017, a week long community event organized by Kind Community.   

Kind Community is an organization that was started in 2015 by two mothers. Their concern was the environment that their children would start facing in school. They were worried about bullying, peer pressure, teen suicide and emotionally destructive competition within groups of friends.

By working with the school board and gaining the support of local businesses and civic groups the small movement turned into a regional organization with the explicit purpose of creating kind, supportive and understanding culture within schools and communities through education.