Bullying and Suicide Prevention
Bullying and Suicide Prevention
Melissa Nelson, Founding President
“In 
the next 7 minutes, a child in the U.S. will be bullied. It may be the son or daughter of someone you know. Worse, it may be your own. Meanwhile, only four out of 100 adults will step in to stop it. The rest — 85 percent — will do nothing.”
Melissa Nelson, the Founder and President of the Community Kindness Movement and former Mrs. Pocatello 2015, appreciates the voice that the “Mrs. Pocatello” title gave her, but feels that you don’t have to have a title to advocate for a cause. She strongly believes that ANYONE can do good and make a difference in the live of others, it just takes heart.
Never did the Nelson’s think that her family would be standing here today advocating for Bullying Prevention, but when bullying happens in your family it 
changes your awareness. After meditation and study, Melissa came upon an article called The Virtues of Kindness. By reading that article, she felt that she had found the answer in helping her own child. As a family, they chose not to send their children to school one day and instead, they performed anonymous Acts of Kindness for the entire day. They delivered twenty-six single yellow roses into their child’s school, to teachers, students, and even to neighbors. They experienced how genuine kindness could truly perform a change of heart. The bullying diminished. From that experience sparked a kindness flame and the yellow roses inspired the bright yellow Kindness T-Shirts. The flame has grown into a Non-Profit Organization.
“Children experience bullying each day, whether it be at home, online, in school, or out in our communities. Children have not yet developed the coping skills to brush off devastating effects. What can we do about it? It’s our job to give our children the tools needed to be successful in life and to learn the valuable attributes that we make them successful. By teaching our children resilience and kindness, we can help teach them some of the most valuable life skills to get them through the adolescence. Our mission is to spread the awareness that KINDNESS IS A STRENGTH, not a weakness!”
Get involved:
This experience brought opportunity for the Nelson family to make that difference throughout the Pocatello/Chubbuck Idaho Community that has spread throughout the State of Idaho. The Nelson’s greatly appreciate all of the MODELS OF KINDNESS that have joined in this movement.
THANK YOU to PORTNEUF MEDICAL CENTER for being the CKM’s first major sponsor. Because of their generous first year donation, many other sponsors donated and funded our first 8.000+ Kindness T-Shirts in Pocatello and Chubbuck, Idaho. This helped empower many others to join the movement to bring our program to many other schools around our state.
THANK YOU to NEW DAY PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES! These guys are the best! Terry Frederickson, the owner of New Day, has been one of the leading advisers for the CKM. Melissa greatly appreciates his friendship and mentor-ship. Terry has served as the CKM Executive Vice President from 2015-2018. He now currently serves as a Board of Director. New Day Products is a special t-shirt printing company. They are a non-profit organization that employs special needs residence in the Pocatello, Idaho Community. They are our Kindness T-Shirt Printing Company. This is AMAZING! So, know that when you support the CKM, you are also supporting another wonderful non-profit organization that employ special people and kindness definitely goes around full circle!
Special shout out to Kathy Wheatly, the Operations Manager at New Day, she is a gem!
THANK YOU to the Idaho PTA Congress and to Mary Kae Ryner! The Idaho PTA became the CKM’s Non-Profit Sponsor by collecting the funds needed our first year. We also appreciated their support in helping the CKM bring our program to many other schools throughout the State of Idaho. We couldn’t have done it without their support.
THANKY YOU to the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District and to the Pocatello/Chubbuck City Mayors for approving Melissa’s Community Kindness Movement Proposal. From the CKM Proposal, the Pocatello and Chubbuck experienced their first Kindness Week Proclamation signing of their very first Community Kindness Week. Kindness Week is now celebrated annually, the third week in September. We also celebrate a Kindness Day, every month, on every third Thursday.
Kindness is a simple, yet POWERFUL answer to Bullying Prevention. The CKM’s Kindness Begins With Me Program was created as an annual School Bullying Program and has proven results. The CKM have been given the amazing opportunity in experiencing entire student bodies funded Kindness T-Shirts and it has been an amazing experience. Melissa believes she has experienced the makings of many aspiring “World Changers”. She knows children are more acceptable to change when given the tools needed for their success. “They can make a difference in their homes, at school, and in our communities, if we can provide the encouragement and tools. Our mission is to teach children that they can celebrate their uniqueness, but are stronger when they can accept one another and come together as one.”
May #kindness impact your life, like it has ours,
