ATHOL – At the urging of Athol Congregational Church, the town’s Selectboard has officially declared 2023 to be The Year of Kindness in Athol.

An event inaugurating the year-long initiative was held on Tuesday, Jan. 3, in Memorial Hall at Town Hall.

“We’re here today to say ‘thank you’ for the cooperation of the Athol Selectboard,” said Bonnie Benjamin, organizer of the event. “And because of the appreciation that we can work together in spite of times when we watch the media and see people are being hurt. There are so many things that we see that make us feel upset. When I watch TV or listen to the radio there are things I’m just not sure about.

“And yet, tonight we’re making a collaboration with the town of Athol, other organizations – civic organizations, religious organizations, and we’re hoping a lot more – to bring kindness into Athol and this region in 2023.”

Town Manager Shaun Suhoski joined Benjamin to unveil a banner reading, “2023 – Athol’s Year of Kindness.”

Congregational Church Reverend Dr. Candice Ashendon then presented Selectboard members Kala Fisher and Rebecca Bialecki with a proclamation passed by the Massachusetts State Senate congratulating the town of Athol and Athol Congregational Church for designated 2023 as The Year of Kindness.

Pastor Cindy LaJoy, ACC’s Community Outreach Coordinator, said, “COVID was kind of a trigger for all kinds of issues, and we all recognized the lack of sensitivity we were seeing, the divisiveness throughout our nation, the heartache that so many people were experiencing, and it caused people to forget our neighbors and be kind to each other.”

She then explained that, in the spring of 2022, the Athol Congregational Church applied for a grant through the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ and was awarded $25,000 from the Faith in Our Future Together program.

“We submitted a proposal for the grant to undertake a kindness project initiative to make Athol even better,” she explained. “Athol is a kind place to live, but you know what – we can always do better. We can continue to encourage kindness through our organizations and our businesses. We realize unprecedented times call for unprecedented action. So, here we are.

“We’re looking forward to doing all kinds of events. We’re going to encourage book discussions within the community. We’re going to be out at every event we can possibly be at, because we all here know how kindness can help. We need to combat the negativity; that’s the only kind of thing that gets published anymore, and I think we’re all sick of that. So, we’re going to invite everybody in this town to parti with us to make Athol the kindest town in Massachusetts.”

LaJoy explained that $5,000 of the grant will be used to pay for her position as coordinator, while the remaining $20,000 will be spent directly on initiatives and programming designed to benefit the Town of Athol.

Audrey Elwood then unveiled a stack of ‘Caught in the Act of Kindness’ cards to the audience.

“These cards are available free to anyone to offer others when they see someone helping others or being generally kind,” Elwood said. “The cards will acknowledge an act of kindness has been witnessed, and the giver or receiver can scan the back of the card, and they can write to our Athol Keys to Kindness Facebook page where they can then post a photo and share a story about the kindness they encountered. They Keys to Kindness will serve as a reminder to everyone that being kind is a priority and should be acknowledged.”

Keys to Kindness cards will be available at the ACC office at 1225 Chestnut St.

“We are excited about this,” said Ashenden. “We have many things in the works. As we do so, we’re planning to hit a lot of businesses, civic organizations, you’re going to be hearing from us because we don’t want to do this alone. We’ve been fortunate enough to receive the funds to make this happen and we want to do it as a group; we want to share the joy and the pleasure of putting this together and of bringing kindness to our entire region.”

At the conclusion of the presentation, special cookies baked by Heather Sujdak were handed out to all of the attendees. Music for the event was provided by folk artist John Currie.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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