Recap a Year of Victories and Activism for HFI

Health Freedom Idaho’s impactful year, Miste Karlfeldt and Sarah Clendenon guide us through a retrospective, highlighting the victories and advocacy efforts that shaped their mission in 2023. From significant triumphs of Daycare Exemption Notification to impactful events such as CPS Presentations and the Boise Parade, their relentless pursuit of health freedom takes center stage. Join them as they unpack the accomplishments and invite you to their upcoming event on Jan 17 Day at the Capitol, promising a deep dive into their ongoing advocacy efforts.

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Hello, my health freedom, loving friends, Misty Karlfeldt here with Health Freedom Idaho. And I’m here with my bestie and partner in health freedom, Sarah Clendenon. We will give you a little wrap-up of what we did this year with Health Freedom, Idaho. There is a lot to talk about. So, let’s talk about our big victory.

Sarah, so exciting. Our big victory with the daycare statute. Tell everybody what we did. Yes, so in the 2023 legislative session earlier this year, we successfully added the language for daycares in addition to schools. Now all licensed Idaho daycares have to tell parents anytime they’re talking about the vaccine requirements.

They are now required to tell parents that they have a right to an exemption if they would prefer to do that instead of the vaccine requirements. So a huge, huge win. This was definitely a gap that I’ve been wanting to close because we know, you know, parents are hit up for the vaccine conversation when a baby is born in the hospital.

And then, you know, we had been addressing it at the school level when they start kindergarten, but there was this time in between, between birth and kindergarten where some Idaho kids are going to daycares. And that was a place where I was hearing from parents that they were being bullied again. You know, which we know is coming all the way down from the Department of Health and Welfare.

They were holding the licenses of daycares over those daycares’ heads and saying, and I know because this happened to me personally; this was one of the reasons I got into the fight. They were telling parents if they don’t have their children fully vaccinated and submitting all those records they’re not welcome in our daycare.

And that is not what Idaho law says. So, this year we were able to add that language. Acknowledging the parents have the right to be exempt and making it a requirement of the daycares to tell parents, huge shout out to Senator Scott Herndon from District One, he did a fantastic job. I was so impressed.

He did all the research. He was very well versed on the entire issue. He presented it fantastically in committee and on the floor. Amazing job. Amazing. Yeah. So exciting. Really so exciting. I mean, when we look around the country, people are losing ground when it comes to their health freedom and their vaccine exemptions.

And in Idaho, we’ve been gaining ground. Yeah. Strengthening them, educating parents, making sure that they know. And in our state, we still have all three. A lot of states have only one or two left, if any. Not in Idaho, all three exemptions, medical and philosophical and religious, all three. Yay. Right. And well, and by statute, it just says we can just opt out.

Yes. Well, I mean, I don’t even, I don’t even want them to, you know, narrow it down to these three reasons. It’s like, I just opt out for whatever reason I want. And we don’t have to do the state form. I mean, I think it’s just been years and years of us. Like I feel like a broken record just saying like, you don’t even have to sign that state form.

You can literally write on a napkin. My child’s exempt. The end. That’s it. I really love that we, that we get to do that. I actually just helped a parent with that recently. And she’s like, really? Yeah, no form. I would not use the form because I don’t want the state to tell me what my statement is. (Vaccine Exemption Article from HFI)

I’ll draft my own statement. Thank you very much. Exactly right. Yep. And just that knowledge opens up parents understanding of what their rights are. They’re like, Oh wait, that’s right. I don’t want somebody else to write my statement. Exactly right. We’ve done a really great job with that. We’ve been working on it for years.

And I look forward to what we have next. And I agree with you, Senator Scott Herndon totally was just awesome on it. Of course, this is the House and he’s awesome. Yeah, he’s brilliant. Amazing. Okay.

So some of the other things that we did this year in 2023. Oh my goodness. I went all over the state with the CPS presentation and you always opened it for me and told everybody in the room, our legislation, what we’ve been working on, what we’ve done, where we’re going, which was awesome.

And then I got to follow that up with what to do. If CPS comes to your door, empowering parents. And I have to tell you guys, if you haven’t seen that presentation. You need to have it in person and you know, I’ve been so silenced on social media that I’ve really had to take this thing on the road and talk to parents in person and that actually has been one of the best things because I get to see parents face to face, I get to hear their stories.

I get to tell them what I’ve seen work or hasn’t worked. I’m definitely not a, an attorney, so I don’t give legal advice, but I can tell you what I have seen work and what I haven’t seen work and parents feel empowered. I had one dad come to me afterwards and I, I’m always really rung out after I give the CPS presentation.

It’s hard, it’s really hard and painful, but I had one dad come up to me after a presentation and he said that he thought that maybe his wife would actually leave the house and go to the grocery store. She’s actually been. So fearful of what to do. If CPS comes to their door, she’s a homeschool mom. She doesn’t vaccinate her kids.

She has all these vulnerabilities and she’s been afraid. And she actually had hope that like, okay, now that I know what to do, I feel empowered. And again, it’s not legal advice. It’s just what I’ve seen work and I’ve seen it work time and time again. So getting to empower the parents of Idaho so that they’re not caged in their house in fear and they can go out and empower their children.

What to do also has been really, really awesome experience. Idahoans are awesome by the way, and getting to go all over the state and meet, meet Idaho parents and wherever they’re from that are now Idahoans or longtime Idahoans. It’s really, really awesome people. It’s been a great blessing in my life to do, to do that.

And then we brought Zapped to Meridian and to Idaho Falls. So that was really cool. And then we’ve participated in other events in booths and gosh, all kinds of Patriot events, which has been really fun. Yeah. It’s been a fun year. Yeah. It really has more Patriot groups. Gosh, when we started in 2015, I don’t know.

There was just not as many groups and organized freedom lovers. And now they’re really. It is so many groups and organized freedom lovers. And so it’s really fun to participate in each other’s events and to be invited to speak at different events or have a booth at different events. And then we all get together and it’s like family.

It’s really awesome. It has been. And you’re right. It’s, it’s amazing to watch people moving in from out of state or people that have been here a long time that are finally like realizing they need to get active. And it has been, I mean, we’ve, yeah, like you said, we’ve done events like in Nampa, we did that, We The Patriots.

I was just thinking about that one again, amazing speakers brought in from all over the country. Just, oh, such great opportunities to meet these like health freedom fighters from all over the country. It’s such an honor to have them come here. It was awesome. Really is gosh, we, the Patriots put on a great event.

That was fun to be a part of that. And I think the biggest fun, and it can’t go without talking about was the Independence Day parade. Oh, yes. Oh, my goodness. That was an experience. Oh, my goodness. Well, we decided to definitely exercise our Second Amendment rights at the Independence Day parade. And gosh, who knew that would be so controversial?

I mean, that whole thing was just such an interesting, like, chain of events that I feel like was definitely a God thing. I mean, we signed up for it, like, when there, it was not a controversial thing. We just thought, oh, they’re doing, you know, finally, the Fourth of July parade has been brought back to Boise.

We’re gonna definitely have a float. I mean, if anybody’s gonna have one, Health Freedom Idaho should. So we did this amazing float. We bought gowns and dressed as founding mothers, like Abigail Adams and Martha Washington. And we had so much fun with it and our kids were part of it. It was amazing. And then it sort of turned into this situation there right like the day or two before the parade.

All of a sudden, there was this. on open carrying in the parade. And anybody who knows me knows the minute you tell me not to do something, I’m definitely going to do it. So of course we, you know, we were like, well, this is, this is happening. We have every right to carry. We have every right to defend ourselves.

We have every right to defend our children and we’re going to exercise it. And that turned into kind of a thing. I mean, we did carry, there are lots of pictures and videos out there of us with our. Firearms on our person in the parade and it was great. It was awesome. It looked fun. The people loved it We had way more cheers than anything else We were able to educate we had audio of the declaration playing on our float, which was fantastic I think I was surprised to find that a lot of people were not familiar with what the actual language of our Declaration of Independence says and in fact Some people kind of took offense to the audio that we were playing, not realizing that that is literally the day they were celebrating is our day of independence.

And that was our declaration of independence. So I was kind of blown away by that. And just, yeah, we had a lot more cheering than anything else. And I’m happy to see that patriotism and defining and defending the Second Amendment is alive and well, even in Boise. Yeah. And then we had them stop shooting us.

If you guys haven’t seen that, we are really awesome. Stop shooting us with a syringe of black and white stickers. And so the kids were like passing them out to the other kids in the parade. It was really great fun. And if you missed the controversy, you should probably check it out on our website.

Cause we did a an article about it. We have a video about it and how the news really conveniently stopped recording the parade as we were coming across and really conveniently started recording again after we went by. Yeah. Very abruptly went to break. Like it was obviously not a planned break and the minute Arslo came into view, they were like, Oh, cut the feed.

Yeah. Yeah. It was like being scrambled and then it like went to commercial. Oh my gosh. How do you know you’re doing something right? They’re like so afraid for people to understand that they have, that they own their own body, that they have bodily autonomy, and that health freedom is alive and well in Idaho.

And oh my goodness, so is the Second Amendment. Imagine that. Imagine that. That was great fun. So if you haven’t seen it, check it out on the website or just go to Twitter. I think you’ll find us in our gowns with our ARs in the back. And we were having a blast. I thought it was great. It was a fabulous day.

It was so much fun. Who knew it would be so controversial, but it was great fun. And then to wrap up the year, we had a Christmas party that was just. It was like everything I wanted it to be. What about you? Oh my gosh. It was so great. So fun. I just love, like you were saying, when all the Patriots get together, it’s like a family reunion.

Like, it just felt like a big Christmas family dinner. Like, I just, I just love everybody that comes to our stuff and like—spending the evening with them. And we had your son with his live music, which was so great. He’s so talented and amazing. Then we had this amazing DJ who did a dance party for us.

Oh my gosh. And the venue was gorgeous. It was perfect. It was just perfection. Now we’ve got a venue that I think we can use for a symposium, you know, in 2020. We had to cancel our symposium and then we’ve been a little bit like shy to go ahead and do another symposium because there’s always this threat of, you know, is it coming back?

Are they going to require things? Well, we finally found a venue with an owner who says we won’t comply with any unconstitutional edicts. My heart exploded. I know, love it. So let’s get something planned for another symposium and get some speakers in here because we’ve made some really great connections.

 JAN 17 – the upcoming day at the Capitol in Idaho where people can come and learn about the legislative process. There will be tours of the Capitol building and a mock hearing where people can practice testifying. The goal is to make the people feel comfortable and familiar with the process so they can actively participate in their government. Treats will also be provided in the morning. Tenative Schedule is Tours at 10 am and 2 pm with a mock hearing at Noon.

We have some really great friends that I know we can bring in easily and help educate Idaho. So keep the ball rolling in the right direction, gaining ground on our health freedom. Absolutely. For sure. So then we have the day at the Capitol coming up, Sarah. Yes. So, every year in January, we do a day at the Capitol where we invite anybody who wants to come.

Anybody, everybody, new Idahoans, old Idahoans, everything. We do a couple tours. I do a tour in the morning and a tour in the afternoon. So if you’re only able to be there for half of the day or the other half, we can do a tour. Two different tours, and I take you all the way from the bottom floor, the basement level of our Capitol, where all of our bill hearings are in committee, all the way up as far as they’ll let us go.

Sometimes we get to walk on the House floor, on the Senate floor, one year they were letting the kids sit up in the Speaker’s desk with the gavel, I mean, you never know how it’s gonna go. And then in the middle of the day, during the lunch hour, we are going to do a mock hearing. And so that will be in West Wing 17, that’s the Senate side of the building, the West side.

Where we will have a committee of real actual representatives and senators that have volunteered to sit on our mock committee. And we will have one of us act as a representative carrying a bill. Introduce a real bill draft. That’s one of my, one of the ones on my list this year. And then we’re going to let people practice testifying.

And that’s any ages. Last year we had a whole big group of homeschool kids, which was so great. We got to let the kids practice. I think that’s such an amazing homeschool lesson. It’s an amazing lesson for any kids. I know for me, like I grew up in another state and I’m still to this day, never been to the Capitol in that state at all.

Which blows my mind because we’re blessed to be in a place where, like, I, I just feel so great to be, like, right down the road from the Capitol. Like, my kids are so at home at the Capitol that they’ll just, like, run off and, like, do their own thing. And, like, they’re just so, like, familiar with it. And that’s how it’s supposed to be.

That is the people’s house. Like, the people should be there. The kids should be familiar with it. The kids should know what it feels like to be in a committee hearing and to testify and to learn these things. We can’t have a representative form of government Where our representatives are hearing from the people if the people don’t even understand the process aren’t familiar with the building I mean all the things so we’re trying to really Make it so that the people can come there and feel comfortable and understand the process and feel good with with it So that’s what this day is all about.

So treats in the morning We’ll have a table set up on the first floor of the rotunda right in the center in the big circle And then like I said, we’ll probably have a 10 o’clock. We’ll finalize the schedule here, but a 10 o’clock tour that will start at our table in the rotunda and then a 12 noon mock hearing in West Wing 17, and then a 2 o’clock tour, same thing, starts at our table on the first floor of the rotunda, and then we’ll just kind of wrap up the day after that, probably 3, 3.30ish. Yeah, these, these are really awesome. I mean, Sarah really gives it her all. So if you know people who are wanting to get involved, let them know this is the time to come. All they have to do is sign up for our emails at healthfreedomidaho. com. A little dropdown will come, put your email address in there and you will get the information about this day.

So help us spread the word, help us get people there because educated people will take part in defending their Liberty here in Idaho. I know a lot of people have moved. To Idaho in order to be free. Well, it takes, it takes action. Vigilance. To stay free. Yeah, keep on it. And it can’t just be us because it’s just not enough if it’s just us.

Yes. So so help us get people there. Also let your legislators know that you’re going to be there and see if you can arrange a time to meet with them while you’re there. Get them to the noon mock hearing so that they can hear one of our bills that’s going to be taking place. And they can see what the people are saying about it already.

It’s a perfect time to get to know your legislator. Let them know that you’re there. You’re at the Capitol. You’re an active participant in your liberty. And have them meet you there in the Lincoln Auditorium. Right. The Lincoln Auditorium. No, it’s in West Wing 17. It’s actually one of the committee hearing rooms.

Oh, okay. West Wing 17. It was so fun. I got to be in the mock hearing as a legislator. That’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to actually being a legislator because I really don’t want to be. But it was fun to pretend to be one. Yeah, no, and it was so great. And you guys up there did such a great job and were asking questions of those people testifying, which is.

Such good practice because that happens in real hearings. I’ve been up there You know multiple times and you finish your three minutes and you’re like, okay i’m done No, they want to like actually interact with you. And so that’s such good practice and it’s Yeah, that’s like, I think sometimes the most important part of the committee’s hearing from the people is when they’re able to like actually stand there and ask, you know, question and answer and have a back and forth.

Yeah, it’s really good practice for that. And everybody tells me they, they’re getting, they’ll get the nerves. Like they don’t know how it goes back and forth. Right. Right. Acknowledge then you, then you ever speak through the chairman and all that is such good practice. Yeah. Good practice. So then you, of course, you’re going to be nervous.

Yeah. Of course. I still get nervous, not to the same degree because I, I view it a little bit differently than I did the first year of, but you know, you’re always going to be a little bit nervous, but you also see just kind of the flow. And you’ll also see that they hold your hand through it. They totally do.

Yeah. They’re not like you didn’t go through the chair. Off with his head! No. And I mean, especially now, I mean, it’s gotten even better. Like, the people that are elected, so many of them are so amazing. They’re so great. They’ve been in our shoes before they got elected. I mean, they totally get it, and they’re so gracious and patient, and it’s really once you just do it a couple times, it’s not nearly as intimidating as it seems.

Yes. And when you realize these are just people too, they’re elected people who ran to serve you. Shift our mindset of like, they’re not our leaders. They’re our servants. They’re public servants. They’re there to serve you. So you have to let them know what you want. Right. We shift our mindset on that. I think that it helps us to just get up there and.

Speak from the heart for three minutes and say, this is why it’s important to me. Right? Yeah. No, definitely I mean, I know even for myself like there was a shift in like feeling like I was there to ask Feeling like I’m there to instruct and like that doesn’t mean not having to quorum it doesn’t mean not being polite, but there is a shift in your body language and your Your speech when you remember that those are your employees and you’re there to instruct them and that is their job is to, you know, listen to the people they’re supposed to represent us.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You want more of this. So it’s our day at the Capitol. Yes. So it is Wednesday, January 17th. Awesome. And get on our email list so we can get all the information. Okay. So last thing is that, oh my gosh. So PayPal did the whole thing where they were saying, you know, whatever they were going to, whatever they were totally against patriots, obviously outing themselves as communists.

Yeah. Totalitarians. Yeah. So a lot of people, you know, ended their relationship with PayPal and rightly so. Yeah. And so with Health Freedom Idaho, we got a lot of notifications that people were ending their relationship with PayPal. And so that was ending their membership with Health Freedom Idaho. And then I think.

People forgot to go to the Health Freedom Idaho website, healthfreedomidaho. com, and re sign their membership. Some people did, some people didn’t. I think people were just really angry. Yeah. No, we included. PayPal. Yeah, that’s included. But. We still need you to be members. We need to be membership strong.

It’s 10 a year and helps us to pay all the things that we have to pay for, like the upcoming event, which costs money. And also getting the information out to you costs money, but more importantly, I’ve been really trying to save as much money as I can for the possibility of a lawsuit someday. And of course running a nonprofit takes money.

I don’t get paid. Sarah doesn’t get paid. We put that money away to use to educate Idahoans, to have events and to save up for a lawsuit. That’s really it. So if you can, please go to healthfreedomidaho. com and become a member for 10 a year. It’s really important to me and to Sarah that when we go to the Capitol and we say that we represent health freedom, Idaho, that we, we represent.

20, 000 members, 30, 000 members, right? They need to understand that when we go, we’re representing a large portion of of people that I know. So it’s really important. It’s 10 a year, especially if you can’t be at the Capitol and we are your voice, please sign up to be a member. Yes, absolutely. Please and thank you.

Yes. And any donation. Look we actually do accept bigger donations than 10 a year. But we actually limit it. We actually limit it to $1, 000 per person per year. We did that. We made that decision back in 2015 and we fought it through again in 2016 and we said we did not want anybody or any entity Influencing the way we help defend health freedom in Idaho.

I think that was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Yeah. We don’t have anybody dictating to us because they’re like, Oh, well, we donated $20, 000. So this is how we want you to do it. That does not happen. Nope. It’s going to be a new year. And so $1, 000 per person. Is the cap and your $10 membership and and, and we love it that way because we just are not motivated by money.

No, we never have been. We’ve had goals along the way. We started with goals. Of course, our goals have changed as we’ve accomplished things over the years. And now we have new ones and it really is. Like what needs to be done. It’s not what some donor thinks is important. Yep. We are motivated by Liberty because that’s what we get paid in.

Just like that’s what you get paid in. That’s our motivation is pure Liberty, health freedom in Idaho, bodily autonomy, parental rights, all the good things. Yes. A free Idaho in the future for my kids. Yes. Okay. Well, that’s it. That’s the wrap up. We’ll see you at the day at the Capitol on January 17th. And please make sure that you are a member and you donate at healthfreedomidaho. com. That’s it. Merry Christmas, everybody, and Happy New Year.