What does it mean to be kind? "It means that you are identifying with the other person," said Pam Johnson, a resident at The New Jewish Home’s Kittay Senior Apartments.

"To provide a service to others that might not ordinarily be done," added Roscoe George, another resident at the Kittay Senior Apartments. 

For Thomas Porton, who started the Kindness Club at the senior living facility in Kingsbridge Heights in the Bronx, it means "sending a positive aura to the person you are relating to." 

"I'm hoping that some of the people who were unhappy will be happier with their lives," he said.

Each week, the residents gather to discuss paying it forward, the benefits of being kind and friendship.

"I feel energized,” Porton said. “I feel what I used to feel when I was teaching school at 7:30 in the morning."

Porton's journey with kindness started half a century ago at James Monroe High School. There, he arranged holiday meals for people who were less fortunate.  

He launched a program during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. He drove teens around the Bronx to educate others about healthy living.

"It actually came from the young people, their desire to do something," he said.

When Porton moved to Kittay in March, he launched the Kindness Club. He also hosts movie nights each week, where participants talk about kindness in cinema.

"We showed 'The Color Purple,'" Porton said. "We showed 'Rudy.' We showed 'Mr. Holland's Opus.'"

"If it wasn't for people like Tom and his aide, I guess I would be lonely and depressed," said Phylis Cleaver, a participant in the club.

Porton is now bringing in his former students, like Dr. Keba Rogers, to talk with his neighbors. He hopes these discussions leave a lasting impact.

"Any bit of kindness that can be integrated into somebody's life has to be helpful to make the day liveable," Porton said.

For creating a decades-long culture of compassion in the Bronx, Thomas Porton is our New Yorker of the Week.