We care about words and choose them carefully. So should you.

The Albany County District Attorney’s Office has had an ongoing campaign called “Words” to discourage bullying by highlighting acts of kindness by young people.

Throughout the last school year, we ran news of students in our midst who received accolades for their good deeds.  Selfless acts of kindness — those that need no recognition or reward — may be the best of all, but we’re happy to encourage good behavior.

This summer, seven camps participated in the Words Summer of Kindness campaign where kids were rewarded for their good deeds. Last week, we got a release that included descriptions of seven children at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Youth Fitness of America Summer Camp who were recognized for their acts of kindness.

We called to find out their last names so the community could know who they were. We hope others are inspired by their acts of kindness or honesty, as reported by their counselor:

— Emily Edwards and another camper tagged one another at the same time — a boy then fell to the ground and, rather than ignoring him and running off, Emily stopped and helped him up, making sure he was OK;

— Zachary Swint is a good role model of what great sportsmanship and kindness looks like. He has shown his ability to lead by helping campers that are younger than he;

— Annie Lendrum heard a camper being unkind to another camper. She asked the two to separate and walked the camper whose feelings were hurt to the counselor;

— Mark Edwards went up for a long pass as campers played football. As he fell to the ground, it was unclear whether or not he caught the ball. Mark stood up and said he dropped it. It was a very close call, and no one knew this but he;

— Faith Coates offered half of her lunch to a boy who arrived at camp without his lunch;

— Dayne Coates and his sister Faith saw an argument that could have turned into a fight; both calmly asked the two boys to get along and made sure that the camp director was aware of the situation; and

— Tyler, whose last name wasn’t available, stayed behind to help clean up heavy equipment.

Something bothered us about the release, though, and it has nothing to do with the kids’ behavior.  Each description was accompanied by a picture of the district attorney, David Soares, standing with the winning kid and a brand-new bike and helmet. Soares isn’t up for re-election until 2016 but it looked like the point was as much about promoting a politician as it was about promoting kindness.

And what about the prize itself? How was it funded?

From the district attorney’s Making Crime Pay fund, we were told. Assets seized from criminals — a man arrested in Altamont with drugs in his car, for example, had his car seized — is used for “public safety initiatives throughout the county,” according to the district attorney’s office.

We think it’s great to recognize kindness but we believe the money could be better spent. Money taken from drug dealers, for example, could be used to help those who are addicted.

We wrote last month about a young addict who died of an overdose. Her mother told us that a Schenectady County program had helped her. She chose Schenectady Drug Court — an option for nonviolent offenders — over jail and then attended meetings, received court-mandated treatment, and underwent regular drug tests.

“Drug court made a difference,” said her mother. “It gives an opportunity not just to be put in jail and back on the street, but to turn their lives around. We had the best year of our life.”

Money for programs like that, or like those we’ve written about that were run by Father Peter Young, give drug addicts a chance to recover, rather than perpetuate a problem.

The money could be used, too, for addicts who are jailed. Last year, we wrote about a mother whose son, a heroin addict, hanged himself in Albany County’s jail. She had turned him into police, thinking he would be safe in jail.

The sheriff has said, correctly, that the jail is not a treatment center. But could it be with these funds?

Last November, Christian Clark, superintendent of the Albany County Correctional Facility, told us that, in the past year, he had seen a marked increase in the use of heroin. “It’s inexpensive and a lot of people are turning to it,” he said. “We are seeing an increase of folks who are coming in with heroin dependency or charges with selling or using heroin.”

The Albany County jail offers methadone treatment for heroin addicts but the problem isn’t solved just by giving them methadone in jail. The facility has about 800 inmates at any given time and, Clark said, nearly 7,000 over the past year.

Because the average stay in the county jail is 30 days, Clark said, the facility’s staff has no way of tracking inmates’ long-term health.

“They could be here on the methadone and then released back out on the street so it’s very difficult to track because of our population,” Clark said. “A lot of these folks come in on a charge and then they’re bailed out or released by the court where we won’t see them again until they come back — whatever. We have a lot of folks that come in and out of here a lot.”

Addiction leads to crime as those who are hooked will steal to support their habits. A program at the jail could break the vicious cycle.

It’s great to see a picture of a kid smiling next to a shiny new bike. But, after listening to the heartbreak of mothers whose children have become addicts, and died, we can’t help but think the money could be better spent.

Why not take the gains from drug busts and use those funds to prevent more drug use?

That would truly be an act of kindness.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer