KEARNS — In the midst of national school shootings, local high school suicides and other bleak circumstances, Michelle Brunson felt inspired to bring some light and kindness to society.
"Obviously there are so many good people in the world," she said. "But we wanted to … do our part to make it a little bit of a happier place for everybody. We really do want everyone to just enjoy being kind and helping others."
Brunson, public relations manager for the LDS Family Festival, helped launch the global TRAK (Team Random Acts of Kindness) Challenge, which kicked off last week. The summerlong event is a competition scavenger hunt of service for groups, and it's available for anyone in the world to sign up.
"It'll be an exciting event and way to boost morale for everybody, especially in Utah and whoever wants to participate throughout the world," Brunson said.
The challenge, part of the 2018 LDS Family Festival, is open to teams of any size to register. An official list of kind acts options will be emailed once a team is registered. Registration costs $35 per team.
"Some of the things are just simple, like give five people high-fives, or take dinner to someone you normally wouldn't take dinner to," Brunson said. "There's a variety of things you can do to put your own twist on it."
David Teams, who works with his wife, Tonia Teams, who founded the LDS Family Festival, also gave a preview of some of the service acts on the official TRAK list: pull weeds for a neighbor, bake cookies for someone, pick up garbage in one's neighborhood or leave a little money at a vending machine.
For every social media post each team member posts of their kind act with the hashtag #trakchallenge, the team will earn five points.
"If one team does one act of kindness and everybody shares it — say there's five people on that team — they'll get five points toward five acts of kindness, even though they all did the same act," Brunson said.
There is no size limit for teams.
Brunson listed a variety of groups that could make up a team for the TRAK Challenge, including families, youth groups, friends, Scouts, co-workers, neighborhoods, family reunions and classmates.
The TRAK Challenge is partners with and will raise money for Operation Underground Railroad, an international nonprofit assisting in rescuing children from human trafficking and sex trafficking.
Teams said they chose to partner with Operation Underground Railroad because "they risk their lives to save these kids and put gangsters in jail. We couldn't think of something that fit better."
The finale to the TRAK Challenge will take place at the LDS Family Festival in Sandy Aug. 3, where the top teams will be invited on stage, and the winner will be announced and given the opportunity to present a check to Tim Ballard, founder of Operation Underground Railroad. Teams have until the weekend before the festival to fulfill challenges and gain points.
Brunson said her service experiences with her daughters helped her form ideas for the TRAK Challenge.
"When Paige, my oldest, was about 2, I really got the impression that I needed to start including her in service and acts of kindness," she said. "And I realized you can serve and do acts of kindness at any age."
Brunson's family, including their 8-, 5- and 1-year-old daughters, is competing as a team for the TRAK Challenge, and Brunson said she hopes other families with young children will join, too.
"If you're on the fence (about joining the challenge), then you need to be over the fence and just do it," Teams said. "It's going to be lots of fun. The more you think about it, the more opportunities you'll see. And the more you do, the better you'll feel."
Learn more and sign up at trackchallenge.com.