BENSONHURST — Like a disciplined army, the volunteers scan the streets of this neighborhood, wearing the uniform of white t-shirts, facemasks, and gloves, and armed with spring-loaded trash-grabbers or “pickers.”

Their mission is to pull garbage from the streets, but their desire is to share the love of Jesus.

About 30 members of the Asian faith community at Basilica Regina Pacis parish assemble for the weekly cleanup each Sunday after their noon Chinese-language Mass.

Father Joseph Lin, a recent transfer to the parish, led a similar program at his former parish, St. Agatha’s in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

“We know our earth, our universe, is a creation of God,” Father Lin said. “And that our environment is our neighborhood.”

But this weekly chore is also an opportunity to share the Gospel in Asian neighborhoods.

Msgr. Ronald Marino described how some of the older members form a semicircle while the rest of the crew works nearby filling trash bags. They sing religious songs and read the Bible in Chinese. They also take questions from passersby.

The pastor said this work is courageous, especially while Asian people across the U.S. face violent hate crimes or verbal abuse and blame-laying for the pandemic.

“This is street evangelism, and we haven’t seen that in a while,” Msgr. Marino said. “It’s kind of necessary, and it’s kind of daring.”

But taking the trouble to help improve the neighborhood shows residents they are loved by the local Catholic parishioners, Father Lin said.

He first saw the need for volunteer cleaning crews while strolling or jogging through Sunset Park. First, he observed streets littered with disposable blue face masks that are now an icon of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next, he noticed discarded latex gloves, also used in the pandemic, and then empty plastic water bottles.

Last August, he started picking up trash on his own but later invited a St. Agatha parishioner to help.

Soon he had a couple of dozen helpers to clear every form of street trash: snack wrappers, cigarette butts, crumpled newspapers, bags of half-eaten fast food.

Father Lin said St. Agatha’s Parish has not yet resumed the weekly cleanup crew since his transfer to the Basilica of Regina Pacis to become its parochial vicar. The Asian community of Sunset Park is returning to health since the second wave of the pandemic hit around Christmastime.

Meanwhile, however, Father Lin found willing parishioners to clean up the neighborhoods around the basilica, and with the blessings of Msgr. Marino.

“I had seen what they had done at St. Agatha’s,” the pastor said. “To tell you the truth, it impressed me to see how many people did it.”

Sister Clara Wang is among volunteers at Regina Pacis.

“We want to do that work and to show God loves them,” she said of people in the neighborhoods. “A lot of Chinese people — most of them are unbelievers. They need God; only they don’t know that they need God.

“So, we do our best to proclaim the Good News.”

Lizhen Zheng has participated in cleanups at both St. Agatha and Regina Pacis.

“We try our best,” she said. “Everybody is living on the same earth. So we have to protect the environment.

“We know we’re not going to clean the whole community, but people will see us and think, ‘Oh, they are from the Catholic Church. They are different. They help our community keep clean.’”

A distinguishing feature is the white t-shirts, which show St. Vincent de Paul’s image and the slogan, “Charity Leads to God.”

The uniform includes their protective gear.

“It is the pandemic, and I am very concerned about the others’ safety,” Father Lin said. “So when we go out, we wear the gloves, and we wear the masks. And while they are cleaning, I ask them to change the mask often because it gets dirty.”

Sister Wang agreed.

“We don’t know what’s on the masks that we pick up,” she said. “It might be the virus. We trust God will protect us.”

Msgr. Marino noted that the dirty nature of the cleanup efforts, and the crew’s willingness to do them, prove members of the Asian communities are solid citizens.

He said it is important to remember that during the current climate of anti-Asian hate crimes.

“I think it’s courageous of them, given what they read in their newspapers about discrimination against Asian people,” the monsignor said. “Asians are getting beat up and attacked here and there — and still, they go out there.

“And I think there’s another dimension to this whole thing — the false stereotype that the Chinese people are dirty. And they know that, these people.

“So what are they doing? They’re cleaning up the neighborhood! And I think I like that point.”