October 19, 2022 at 3:24 p.m.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
Behind her is a sea of moving volunteers. Women check toys, organize bottles of baby formula, and make sure everything is ready for the big day. On Oct. 4, two years after closing their doors due to the COVID pandemic, the Ladies of Charity of Albany reopened their most popular program: Mary’s Corner.
“This opening is very big for us,” said Mary Clinton, past-president of the Albany Ladies of Charity. “We’re serving a great need for the community.”
Mary’s Corner, one of the largest programs run by the Albany Ladies of Charity, serves families with children from birth through age 4. Parents can receive diapers, formula, baby food, cereal, nursing needs, bath products, crib sheets, blankets, clothing, toys and books, as well as assistance with referrals to other organizations.
Mary’s Corner first opened in Cohoes in October 2010, with a second site added at the Maureen Joyce Center in 2013. In 2019, the two locations of the Mary’s Corner ministry in the Albany Diocese gave out 1,513 diapers, 423 cans of formula, 1,873 books and 3,074 outfits to families in need.
During COVID, both Mary’s Corner sites ceased operation, while a handful of volunteers kept on collecting and organizing donations at the program’s distribution center that is run out of St. Colman’s School in Watervliet. This year, as infection rates remained low, Mary’s Corner put a call out for volunteers to help restart the Albany site.
Sandie Flynn, a volunteer with Mary’s Corner, came back after the pandemic to help out. Flynn has been a part of the organization since 2016 and calls the work at Mary’s Corner “a part of my life.”
“Nothing stopped you (being here) unless you absolutely had to,” she said. “It becomes a second family.”
Before COVID, the Albany site would serve up to 20 families a week. There would be days when the center would be crowded with families, many of whom were regulars. Ellen Boyer, a volunteer with Mary’s Corner since its inception, said many volunteers got to know who was coming in.
“We all got to be friends because we came every week,” Boyer said. The clients “grow with us and we grow with them. It’s a good feeling.”
The site’s reopening comes at an ideal time for many families. With high heating bills looming and baby formula shortages still ongoing, the biggest hurdle volunteers face is letting families know that Mary’s Corner is open again.
“It’s such a great organization because there’s no overhead, everything comes in and everything goes out, everything is volunteer,” Clinton said. “And when you need something it’s just such a great group of women. You just put word out, like if we need size-5 diapers, and they’ll take up a drive or they’ll ask somebody.”
Mary’s Corner in Albany operates once a week on Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Sister Maureen Joyce Center, (369 Livingston Ave.) Parents are required to bring a birth certificate for each child, and a proof of residency (current bill, rent receipt, etc.) is required for new applicants. There is no charge for any of the services and goods and applicants may come in once a month to be served.
For information on volunteering or donating to Mary’s Corner, visit albanyloc.org.
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