February 19, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

KINDNESS MATTERS CHALLENGE

Marcia Caryofilles and Alex and Denise Buono, coordinators of the Street Soldiers group and the Kindness Matters challenge, are seen at St. Mary’s at Clinton Heights. (Photo provided)

The Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights has teams of people who volunteer once a month at Street Soldiers in Rensselaer and provide personal care products, paper products and cleaning supplies to the homeless and less fortunate in their community.

In response to the Diocese of Albany’s “Kindness Matters” challenge, the team decided to broaden what they do and invite all of the parishioners of both the Church of St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph’s in Rensselaer to share in this mission.

A team of volunteers from St. Mary's in Clinton Heights is shown on a Saturday morning at Street Soldiers in Rensselaer. (Provided photo)

They now have set aside every first weekend of the month in both parishes for collecting needed items for Street Soldiers. The team also spoke at each Mass to explain what their goal was and had their first collection on the weekend of Feb. 1.

They handed out Kindness Matters buttons and wristbands and had an outstanding response to their request.

They collected 100 bottles of hand wash, 66 bottles of body wash, 168 rolls of toilet paper and 160 bars of soap. Everyone was excited to participate and they now have more people volunteering to join the teams at Street Soldiers!

Said one of the volunteers, “Thank you for inspiring us to reach out to include everyone in this challenge. Kindness is contagious!”

Participants in the Kindness Matters challenge can send their stories/actions of kindness, as well as requests for buttons and wristbands, to [email protected]. Participants can also share their stories on social media with the hashtag #RCDAkind.

Stories and photos can also be sent to [email protected] and will be published in The Evangelist.