The magic happened a few minutes later when one of dozens of students attending a Rachel’s Challenge Team event Tuesday morning picked one up and painted it in bright colors.

There’s more in store for the painted rock down the road. Each student will take their painted rocks home, then hide them for people to find.

Kim Bodholdt, with the Fort Dodge Middle School, helped arrange the event to create the Friendship Rocks.

“They can help spread happiness in your community,” she said. “We saw this being done on Facebook and thought it would be a fun event.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Rachel Stanberg, of Otho, gets a little "help" from the family's bluetick coon hound Nala Joe as she looks over some of the Friendship Rocks she's painted to to distribute around her community.

The concept is simple.

“People paint a rock and put a kind message on it, then hide it,” she said. “When people find it, it brightens their day. We hope they pass it on. That’s how you create a chain reaction.”

While Bodholdt hasn’t personally found one, she did make one at the event and has plans to hide it. Still, her life has been touched by the project.

“I have a friend whose father was in the hospital and not doing well,” she said. “The kindness rock she found on hospital property really made her day.”

Grace Williamson, 5, of Fort Dodge, attended the event with her mom, Jessica Williamson.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Fort Dodge artist Meg Beshey applies a coat of clear coat to a collection of freshly painted Friendship Rocks during a Rachel's Challange Team painting event at the Fort Dodge Community School Districts Central Administration Building.

As her daughter worked with paint, her mother thought a bit about where the bright rock would end up.

“We don’t know yet,” she said. “We’ll drive around and see. It’s a great way to spread happiness and it gives the kids a great way to experience that.”

Olivia Ferris, 15, of Fort Dodge, was making several rocks to hide. She contemplated what she would do if she found a Friendship Rock.

“I would do what you’re supposed to do,” she said. “I’d put it in another place for someone to find.”

Brooke Hemrick, 17, of Fort Dodge, was also creating rocks.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Brooke Hemrick, 17, of Fort Dodge, selects a rock to paint during a recent Rachel's Challange Team painting event at the Fort Dodge Community School Districts Central Administration Building.

“It’s just a good message to spread,” she said. “Mine is just bright colors.”

Friendship Rocks can carry any message the person creating them wants. Some have paintings of everything from flowers to fire trucks, some are lettered with a positive message for the finder, some simply are a solid color and have a symbol, such as a heart, on them.

The basic idea is the same, whether the creator is a junior Rembrandt or a 5-year-old abstractionist: Bring a smile to the finder’s face.

Friendship Rock movement

The spread of the Friendship Rock movement has been largely driven by activity on social media. Rachel Stanberg, of Otho, is part of a group called 406 Rocks, one of several groups on social media with that name.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen This Friendship Rock was found in Manson. Who created it and left it, remains unknown.

“I saw a friend of mine in Montana doing it,” she said. “It was something she posted on Facebook. I thought, what a great idea.”

She likes the thought of it as a summer activity.

“It’s a really simple idea. The kids are on holiday, you paint a rock, post a picture on social media,” she said.

She’s been pretty active herself; she’s got about 20 rocks done that are ready to distribute.

“Mine tend to have a nature theme,” she said. “I’ve done a bumble bee and a lady bug.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen One of the Friendship Rocks painted at a recent Rachel's Challange Team painting event at the Fort Dodge Community School Districts Central Administration Building features lots of bright colors.

Stanberg likes that it can bring people together.

“It’s a community,” she said. “Word gets out. People look in places they wouldn’t normally look. It’s a nice surprise to find a rock.”

She hides rocks on her nightly walk with her bluetick coon hound, Nala Joe.

“There’s no strings attached,” she said. “It’s anonymous. It’s just for the sheer fact that it might make someone smile.”

Creating the rocks, along with working on her other art projects, has helped her keep busy. Like many creative people, art is more than just a hobby for Stanberg. She hopes to be able to teach art and work to incorporate art into other subjects and them, into art.

“Art speaks to kids,” she said. “Art has also been my sanctuary.”

Shanna Northrup, of Manson, has also started an online Friendship Rock project in Manson, called Manson Rocks!!!

Active on Facebook, the group features photos of created rocks, found rocks, and there’s even a request from Manson Library Director Laura Koons seeking rocks for a display in the library.