~Kindness is having the ability to speak with love, listen with patience and act with compassion~
Last night we were honored to have been joined by Class Counselor Joe and Class Counselor Adam along with their 18 Recruits from the Albany Police Department .They have a certain aspect in the Academy that involves community service and they wanted to make it impactful. They got educated on The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program which is a community-based police diversion approach to addressing those involved in the criminal justice system because of addiction, mental illness, and poverty. Bringing compassion into policing is important and last night we witnessed each one of the Recruits interact with our friends with just that!!!
The interactions at StreetSoldiers are transformational, never transactional. Every interaction we have is an opportunity to make a positive impact on others. It shows in the eye contact, the conversations, the joking around and the pure compassion that radiates! We meet each one where they’re at, we never judge and each week our friendships grow. \
It’s the little things. Nancy has a table with coffee, tea, books, pens, colored pencils and eyeglasses. A lot of conversation happens at this table. Our friends love to read. If she hears of a specific book someone’s looking for, you bet they’ll have it the following week. Nancy puts books aside for specific friends. One of our friends mentioned that he likes Elvis and last night he got just that!! Books on Elvis!! It made his night.
It’s Mother’s Day weekend and we celebrated mom figures last night. Everyone was able to choose a couple of gifts from our gift table. Maura and her mom were teamed up with two other Recruits at this table and they were able to help everyone put together gift bags either for themselves or for the special lady in their life. It was touching to hear some of the comments and conversation and amazement at how above and beyond our donors go for our friends…some who they’ve never even met. We had gift towers, make up, candles, sneakers, color changing coffee cups, premade gift bags, pillows, blankets, strawberry Shortcake Kits, Mothers Day cards and more!
Thank you to each recruit, to Officer Joe, Officer Adam, Officer Dan and Officer John. We wish you the best of luck, and hope to see you all again. Thank you to Capital Roots for their fresh produce and other items such as honey and fresh ricotta cheese, Perfect Blend Cafe & Bakery for your weekly donation of fresh pastries.
Hannaford Supermarkets,
ProjectellaDomino’s
PizzaBrighter
Choice Charter Elementary Schools pantry for fresh vegetables and fruits.
It truly was a heartfelt night. Pictures say a thousand words. The eye contact, the smiling eyes, the handshakes. You can feel love through each of these photos.
Street Soldiers 