On Saturday, Nov. 8, Riverside resident Erin Claywell and her son, Mason, spent their morning writing kind, heartfelt messages to put in baggies with candy and hand out around town.
They were two of about 175 volunteers who reported to St. Mary Church, 105 Herrick Road, in Riverside from 10 a.m. to noon that day as part of a group service day. After gathering for breakfast at 9:30 and having a prayer send-off at 10 a.m., the volunteers split into different groups to perform different acts of service.
Those acts included decorating cookies to give to local homeless shelters, making laundry supply bags for people staying at shelters through LaGrange-based nonprofit BEDS Plus, writing random-acts-of-kindness notes for townspeople, assembling toiletry kits for Guardian Corps of America, sorting donated coats and clothing for the Salvation Army, decorating and filling stockings with snacks for soldiers on active military duty, cleaning the church itself, and working outside to clean up the triangle park across the street, said Sue Jones.
Jones is a member of the service outreach committee at St. Paul VI Parish, which includes St. Mary Church. Jones helped organize the volunteer day. The parish also includes Mater Christi Church in North Riverside, which volunteers also signed up to clean on Saturday.
“One of the goals is to get people to try doing a service project because there are some people that have never done one. Other people do service every week, but [the goal is] to get you past that first hurdle, like, ‘I can help others,’” Jones told the Landmark. “It’s also good for camaraderie, with getting to know other parishioners and people in your church. You’re sitting in the pew with them, but you don’t talk to anybody; now, you’re here meeting people, you’re getting to know them, and you’re doing it for a good cause.”
Many volunteers who spoke with the Landmark said they had attended the annual event in previous years and planned to come again next year to make a difference.
Pat Cuevas, a former Riversider who still attends St. Mary, acted as the coordinator for volunteers who were assembling laundry kits for BEDS Plus. She said the volunteers were putting together baggies that each contained two laundry detergent pods, two dryer sheets and a blessing note for the recipient.
Separately, volunteers portioned rolls of quarters donated by parishioners into sets of 14, worth $3.50 each, so residents at the shelter can pay to wash their clothes.
When she spoke to the Landmark, Cuevas said she had counted 295 bags of quarters so far, meaning more than $1,032 had been donated in quarters alone.
“This is one of the things that they say they have a strong need for on their website” at BEDS Plus, she said. “This is at least $400 more than last year. I’m amazed, and they’re still [counting]. People were just bringing me quarters.”
Outside, Riverside Village Forester Mike Collins said he had volunteers working to protect the village’s natural spaces.
“It’s a combination of cutting out and digging out buckthorn, which is an invasive woody plant. We’re also digging out thistle and some of the herbaceous, weedy invasives, basically all non-natives. We’re trying to beautify the park,” Collins said. “This is a great collaboration between the village of Riverside, Olmsted Society and also St. Mary’s with their parish action day. It’s a great opportunity for me to take advantage of some sweat equity in the park and get some good work done with a bunch of people.”
