Kelly Landon - Founder

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I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in the front row at a Circus in Everett with my mom and three-year-old son Mikey. I was treating my mom to the grand treatment, as I call it because she was always signing us up and buying event tickets. That day I surprised her with floor seats right next to the action. They were in the middle of some suspenseful act when my phone started blowing up. Call after call came in from everyone I knew, and even people I didn't talk to that often. I couldn't answer my phone with my three-year-old trying to run out into center stage as the performers were shooting apples off heads with arrows, but when the calls stopped, the messages came. "Where are you? Call me!" I got it from my brother-in-law Braden. I texted him back, telling him where I was and that I couldn't talk. He sent me, "A crane fell; you need to call me" Then more and more messages came in from others. "Call me" "Where is Barrett? He isn't picking up his phone" "Have you heard from Barrett" " Call me; I need to talk to you" Barrett is my husband. I didn't even think about what it meant. A crane fell, and? I didn't even fathom what that meant at the moment. Then the following message. "People are dead" My mouth dropped, and I ran to the bathroom and called my brother-in-law. There was a crane that fell at the Google building in Seattle. It crashed into the building and onto the busy streets below. He asked where Barrett was. Thank God he just happened to have that day off. I remember it was his first day off in 20 days, as he was working a crazy amount of overtime and was always willing to work as much as possible.

As time passed, more details came out; there were four confirmed deaths and four injuries. I did find out, and I don't remember how I found this out, that the two dead ironworkers drove up from Portland to work the job that day. My heart was crushed for their families. My mind started racing. Who told them? Did they pay for their airfare to Seattle? Did they get picked up at the airport and put up in a hotel? Were they taken care of? I never did reach out to find out the answers. Everything was so new, and I didn't want to tear into a wound that was so fresh, and where would I even start? What would I do with the information? I wasn't working; I was a stay-at-home mom with no real funds to invest in anything. Then the civil unrest of 2020 happened, and it was time to get to work.

The Google crane accident happened on April 27, 2019. The civil unrest started on May 25, 2020, with the killing of George Floyd. There was anger everywhere which is acceptable. I was angry. I have seen enough episodes of Cops to know that the stop on George Floyd was wrong. Protests hit the street, and people had every right to do so. I disagreed with the rioting, looting, burning down the streets, and attacking our law enforcement for the actions of a few on the other side of the country. 

My life has taught me that you never know when someone will influence your life. Most of the time, it won't be for months or years later. It could be a basketball coach, an English teacher, or even Aunt Margret. For me, it is and will forever be law enforcement. I am a recovering addict. God willing, as I write this April 9, I will celebrate ten years of sobriety. Looking back on my road to recovery, I would not be here without them. The tough love of law enforcement and the criminal justice system got me on the road to cleaning up my act. There is no doubt in my mind. I attended a small back-the-blue group in my hometown of Brier, Washington. Twenty or so people were showing up regularly. The gentleman who started it wanted to get the word out, so I created a Facebook group that exploded overnight. It was too much for the gentleman to care for, so he turned the group over to me, which started my first group, Back the Blue-Brier. We started fundraising for morale boosts for the officers, whether coffee, snacks, monogrammed cups, or canvas. Anything we could think of to show support. It was going so well that I made it countywide. 

So here I am. a girl with a vision to help those who need support—starting with law enforcement in 2020 because they were leaving by the thousands. Someone needed to stand up for them and be a public figure that we are here for them; they are wanted and needed, and I will stand up and bring the communities together to support you. This was the creation of Back the Blue - Snohomish County.