More than 250 residents came out on Saturday for a canvassing campaign held by Roslindale Resists.

Each participant “flyered” virtually all the residential units in the Roslindale Square area, dropping more than 10,000 flyers of information. The flyers contained “know your rights” information in regard to interactions with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as nutritional assistance, health and mental health services, and volunteer opportunities.

Hundreds gathered at the Roslindale Congregational Church before mustering out. Congregational Reverend Wallace Averell Hurd IV, or Pastor Chip, as he is known, introduced the event.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be with you all today,” he said. “Look around. This crowd is like Easter in this church! I am overwhelmed at the support seen here today. They put out a couple of emails and this many people showed up.”

Speakers went back and forth with the crowd before heading out, giving a pep talk that elicited cheers and enthusiasm from the gathered assembly. And then, the actual work began.

Residents may have noticed the yellow flyers all around the neighborhood this week, and each one was placed there by a volunteer. Each route was planned to make sure all 10,000 flyers made it to 10,000 homes throughout, and walkers were constantly streaming back to get more.

Resident and volunteer Jean Nolan was one such volunteer, and kept a quick pace up and down Washington Street on her beat. Throughout the two- or three-mile walk, Nolan ran into several residents curious as to what she was doing and while the protests at Citizens Bank might have received some less than civil feedback from some drivers, every pedestrian on Nolan’s route was happy to talk to her.

Nolan said she wanted to do it because she wanted to help, first of all, but the event brought so many people together, she and others said it was a way to strengthen community ties in Roslindale.

“I got involved early on, hearing about the LUCE Network (Liberty, Unity, Community and Esperanza) and I think friends told me about it, and I wanted to do something just because what is happening out there is just so wrong,” she said. “The turnout is fabulous. I think it’s really wonderful. There are a lot of people who got involved, who signed up and want to do something for their community and our neighborhood, which I think is just wonderful. Really wonderful.”

Nolan said her husband is a naturalized citizen, first coming over 37 years ago from Chile and gaining citizenship 27 years ago. She said they’ve been having issues with the Social Security Office getting identification documents – though she took pains to say that the Roslindale office has been extremely helpful – and she said she can’t imagine the issues many other such immigrant families are facing. She said her two adult children are worried too, and that this is just one example of how so many people are being affected by these policies from the current federal administration.

Nolan said she recently joined the Roslindale LUCE hub, which organized the event with Roslindale Is for Everyone (RISE), the West Roxbury Roslindale Progressives, community groups, labor unions, nonprofits, and more. She said she’s proud to be a part of it.

“It’s so important to make sure people have information, and that’s really powerful,” she said. “We’re making sure our neighbors have the information to keep themselves and their neighbors safe, and also at the same time to help with food insecurity. I myself think that food is a basic human right. And lastly to get out and meet people in our neighborhood. Make connections, see people, walk around, which I think is really important.”

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Nolan added the exercise is a bonus.

“I already walk around the neighborhood all the time anyway, but this is a great way to come together as a community,” she said. “Part of what makes Roslindale such a wonderful community is you’ve got so many people from so many different backgrounds and experiences and we see that here today.”

Roslindale residents Cindy Engler and Nina Lev helped out pass out the flyers to each walker, and said the Coalition started in January, while the organizing itself started much earlier.

“The response today was incredible and I couldn’t have hoped for better,” Engler said. “I think it just really demonstrates the community in Roslindale is united and really cares about our neighbors. We had more people than we anticipated. It was incredible.”

One of those extra people was resident Clayton Cheever and his wife Jackie. They said they showed up and all the flyers were accounted for, so they walked a couple of routes to help out however they could.

“In these hard times, it’s community that brings us together and it’s great to see the community supporting each other and dedicated to getting the word out that we are stronger when we stand with our neighbors,” Clayton said. “They ran out of packets. I didn’t even register ahead of time, I just showed up seeing if they had something extra and, nope, we’ve just got to go out and help out. It’s great.”

One resident said they moved to Roslindale a few years ago and wanted to do something for their neighbors.

“I’m always just looking for more ways to get involved and, obviously, the state of the world is a bit rough right now, so I wanted to find something as a connecting source and that is purposeful as well,” they said. “There are so many people here and I’m excited for our future meetings too.”