Task force, schools combine for King program

COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Rights will join with the Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls school districts and the North Idaho College Human Equality Club to sponsor the 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program at NIC this week.

During the past 25 years, the program has served 31,000 fifth-grade Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene students.

Based on funding from the KCTFHR, the Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene school districts and The Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the week's events will feature speakers from the Oakland, Calif.-based FundaField Foundation.

The group is comprised of 30 kids who organize fundraising to build soccer fields and provide the equipment for children in Africa.

Eleven year-old Kira Weiss, a member of the FundaField, who with the other members of her family just returned from Uganda after building the eighth soccer field in Africa, will be the speaker at the 26th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fifth-grade children's program at NIC's Schuler Performing Arts Center on Friday at 9:30 a.m. and noon.

The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations is sponsoring a speech by another member of the Weiss family, 18-year-old Kyle Weiss, at its annual gala on Monday, Jan. 17.

The gala is scheduled from 5-8:30 p.m. at the Parkside Tower Event Center, 601 Front St., Third Floor, Coeur d'Alene. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased by mailing a check to the KCTFHR, P O Box 2725, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816 or calling Michelle Fink, North Idaho Title, 765-3333.