The third week of October each year is dedicated to the recognition of school bus drivers throughout the country.

If any group is deserving of our appreciation it’s those who transport such precious cargo, our kids. Rain, snow, sleet, hail — to school and back home, to games and events with better on-time stats than any major airline. Driving a school bus is not for the faint of heart — maneuvering mountain roads and highways and tight corners and straightaways while maintaining order and civility of young humans who are not predisposed to quiet contemplation.

And then there are those with whom the big yellow buses share the road, motorists who ignore the stop arm and flashing lights and school zone speed limits. The responsibility and skill required to drive a school bus are both significant. The best way to thank a bus driver just may be to obey traffic laws, prepare your children to be courteous passengers and behind the wheel of your car be patient and watchful when they’re loading and discharging their precious cargo.

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According to posted events on social media, today is Random Act of Kindness Day. The randomactsofkindness.org site declares Nov. 13 as worldwide random acts of kindness day and Feb. 14-20 as random acts of kindness week. The best way to sort out the confusion of official days and weeks is to simply perform random acts of kindness randomly, quietly and consistently every day, every week, all year around.

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Things to Do Highlights: Tonight is the fourth annual Special Needs Basketball Extrava-ganza at North Idaho College. Game 1 at 5:45 p.m. and Game 2 at 7 p.m. Without a doubt a most inspirational evening for the whole family, with free admission.

On Friday, plan to work half a day and then hop on the Brews and Biz bus for a tour of craft breweries in town at noon. Coeur d’Alene Chamber, phone 415-0110.

Friday night the Post Falls Trojans travel to Coeur d’Alene where they’ll play the last football game of the regular season on Viking Field, a matchup that’s always worth the price of admission. Kickoff at 7 p.m.

The Friends of the Post Falls Library host the cleverly-named Long Overdue Book Sale on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The group is making space in its Twice Told Tales book store at the library for more inventory.

Saturday night get your costume on and attend the Halloween Extravaganza at the Greyhound Park to benefit the Sophie’s Sluggers Foundation/Childhood Cancer from 5:30 p.m. to midnight with Kelly Hughes providing entertainment. Also on Saturday is the incredible Lantern Fest at Stateline Speedway. Doors open at 1 p.m. and thousands of paper lanterns will light up the sky at sundown.

On Sunday, not only can you enjoy a wonderful and authentic spaghetti dinner with homemade sauce, garlic bread and Tina Marie’s famous homemade cannoli, your donation will help provide surgery to remove a brain tumor for Darlene Ayers. Silent auction and raffles from noon to 6 p.m. at Coeur d’Alene Adventist, 111 E. Locust in Coeur d’Alene.

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Happy birthday today to Carly Goodlander, Mike Threadgill, Monika Krapfl, Stefan Smith and Paul Mikel. Tomorrow, Sara Fetters, Kristin Childers, Thomas Henderson, Chastin Jaeger, Whitney Brown and Jazmine Brown put on their party hats.

On Friday, Sholeh Patrick, Greg Helbling, LeRoy Pope, Debbie Bales, Natan Tull, Amy Hewel, Tim Snyder, Margaret VanLeuven, Matt Morgan, Christopher Adamson and my grandson Connor Huft will dance the birthday jig. Come Saturday, Rocky Banks, Jeff Turk, Melissa Hjeltness, Adam Slobodow, Randy Millsap and David Ingalls celebrate the anniversary of their birth.

Sunday birthdays belong to Mary Foeller, Kyley Greer, Kathryn Arrand, Jack Price and Damon Darakjy. Oct. 26 celebrants include Gail McGaughey, Scott Peterson, Wanda Brust, Linda Jones and Brock Prince.

And another trip around the sun will be marked on Tuesday by Barb Smalley, Cade Coffey, David Cole, Jen Butler, Deirdre Eldredge, Deeann Zahn and Aidyn Dugger.

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.