Two Teenagers Start Kindness Club

All you need is love! That's what Allegra Padula and Oneida Shushe thinks. And I think they're right!

Their goal is simple. Commit random acts of kindness and encourage others to pay it forward. And it all started during an after-school discussion between the two friends at the Colonie Central High School library.

The two girls were chatting about the state of the world today and decided that maybe the key to making everything better is just a little bit of kindness.

So they took out their pens and paper and wrote notes of appreciation to teachers, writers, a doctor and others whom they admire.

Padula and Shushe have been best friends since freshman year are leaders in the Key Club and Science Club and active members of the National Honor Society, but they wanted to do more. So they started Kindness Club.

The girls have helped assemble 200 craft kits with fun activities for pediatric patients at Albany Medical Center Hospital. They have also spearheaded a collection of donated books for Lansingburgh Elementary School.

The girls quickly realized that Kindness is contagious!

The group plans to gather canned goods for Thanksgiving meals for needy families and to organize a giving tree to purchase holiday gifts for children in need. They also plan on organizing an effort to send cards and letters to people who need a little cheering up!

Their next meeting is the first week of November.

These girls are already balancing busy schedules!  Shushe is active with the Bigger Smiles Project, which promotes dental hygiene in her home country of Albania. (She and her family came to the U.S. in 2006 when she was 9.) Plus she works part time at Marshall's and competes in cross-country.  After college, she to be a dentist.

Padula worked at Hoffman's Playland last summer, tutors at the town library and is an officer in the high school Opera Club. She plans to apply to Williams College and wants to study biology or chemistry, with the hope of becoming an eye doctor!

We were honored to meet the girls and have them on the show this morning! They are truly inspiring!