Kindness Week Declared In Calaveras County

San Andreas, CA — As part of an annual tradition, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors voted to declare this as “Kindness Week” and further deem the county as a “Random Acts of Kindness Zone.”

The Angels Camp City Council took a similar action last week.

The concept of Seeds of Kindness was started in 1994 by Jim and Judy Bergantz, former owners of Bergantz Nursery.

Jill Bergantz, whose parents started it all, was on hand at today’s board of supervisors meeting, and provided background, noting, “It started in Angels Camp with a giveaway of 10,000 long-stemmed roses from my parents’ flower shop on North Main Street. They wanted to practice a random act of kindness and an act of senseless beauty. In 1994, they grabbed onto the concept of giving something away and not expecting anything in return.”

The following year, in 1995, a small group of local residents joined together to encourage others to do random acts of kindness.

Once again this year the Seeds of Kindness project is working with Calaveras County schools to spread kindness. 5,000 light blue wristbands, with the message “Kindness Starts With Me,” are being distributed to students and other community members.

District Three Supervisor, Martin Huberty read a special proclamation, and the supervisors encouraged everyone who lives or visits the county to take time this week to practice random acts of kindness.