Kindness Week begins

CALAVERAS COUNTY – January 21, 2014 – What once started as “Good Neighbor Day” in Angels Camp in 1994, 20 years later has burgeoned into a county-wide Kindness Week to take place Feb. 9-15, 2014.

This good-will event is the brainchild of Jim and Judy Bergantz of Angels Camp. In those early years as owners of Bergantz Nursery, Jim and his family, with the help of their suppliers, gave out thousands of roses - a dozen to each person. Each recipient was instructed to keep one rose and give the other 11 out to those who did a good deed.

In 1995 the Angels Camp City Council officially claimed Feb. 17 as “Kindness Day.”  On Jan.28, 2014 the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors  is expected to unanimously proclaim the second week of February as “Kindness Week,” as well as re confirming  Calaveras County to be a “Kindness Zone.”

This year Seeds of Kindness Week reaches out to Calaveras County schools, businesses, co-workers and individuals, and actually, anyone who wants to participate. 10,000 light blue ribbons with pins will be passed on as “ripples of kindness” activities commence throughout the week-long event. 3.4 miles of light blue ribbon will be tied around trees, light posts, signs and more, resounding the kindness message throughout Calaveras County.

With the help of Calaveras County Superintendent of Schools, Kathy Northington and district school superintendents, all  Calaveras schools have been invited to participate.  A request went out to the schools to appoint a “Kindness Crusader,” who would be in charge of distributing ribbons and instructions.   The kindness kits are being deliver this week, so that each School can fashion its own version of  kindness activities.

Each school will receive a Kindness Kit,  the official diamond shape, yellow Kindness Zone signs were delivered in 2010  and posted at the entrance to the school, hang at meetings and assemblies; a Kindness Zone proclamation; several hundred feet of light-blue ribbon;  “pass it forward” Kindness ribbons with pins; instruction cards and a list of kindness activities, opportunities and participation ideas, as well as contact information for where to go for additional information or supplies.

Instructions for using the Kindness ribbons is simple: “Sign your ribbon. When you notice someone being kind, give them your ribbon to wear asking them to pass it forward. At the end of Kindness Week, place your ribbon where others will see it, reminding them to be kind, or mail your signature-filled ribbon and kindness story to The Seeds of Kindness, P.O. Box 677, Murphys, CA  95247.” Bergantz is also making plans to showcase the returned ribbons in the Calaveras County Office of Education building after the event

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The Seeds of Kindness committee, consists of a handful of spirited volunteers,
Crissy and Dale Huey, Jill and Loren Carley, Judy and Jim Bergantz

Kindness activities could include anything from a smile and opening the door for a classmate or friend, to donating clothes to the Calaveras Crisis Center, deliver a cooked meal to a homebound senior or a stuffed animal to a child who is in the hospital.
Ideas for kindness activities can be found online at theseedsofkindness.com or actsofkindness.org.

In addition to kindness activities, schools are encouraged to hold “Hero” letter contests, where students write about their Kindness hero, which is then read out loud by the author to their “hero.”

“The wonderful thing about kindness is that it’s totally contagious,” adds Bergantz. “Please join us in helping spread the ripples of kindness throughout Calaveras County, by doing one kind deed every day"