Today, the refugee ban affecting seven majority Muslim countries goes into effect in the United States. In Syria alone, more than 50,000 children have perished in the civil conflict there, in the other affected countries the United Nation estimates that are many thousands more.
For $1, you can send these children a message of hope.
Their hopes for safety and freedom have been shattered by the country they most looked to for help, the richest and safest country on the earth. The country that saved and welcomed my own grandmother, and many millions of other refugees.
The ban strands these children – all of them – in horrendously overcrowded and underfunded refugee camps or great danger in their in their own communities.
I have been blessed to get to know many of the refugee children who the United States has welcomed and saved. Some are spending the week at Pompanuck Farms on retreat. To know them is to love them.
They represent a microscopic fraction of those children in need, many of whom have now been condemned to great suffering by a country founded on freedom, openness and generosity.
We have always cared about people other than ourselves. It is chilling for me to try to comprehend the idea that many of the children I have come to know and love would not be in this country, or would be dead, or would be living in filth, poverty, disease and great terror.
What can I do?
I can work to do good.
I can continue my work with the refugee children, and I can send another $1 dollar to RISSE, the refugee immigrant and support center based in Albany, N.Y., the place that helps so many refugee children every day.
One dollar may seem like a small amount, but that’s not so. If a million people send a dollar, then it will make a great difference. RISSE has already received $1,000 in $1 messages of support. It will help keep the dream and spirit of America alive.
it is a simple statement that tells these children and their families that there is another America than the one they keep seeing on the news or that controls Washington.
We are a generous people, we care about other people than ourselves, our faith is not selfishness or hatred or callousness but empathy and freedom and sanctuary. That is our message. We don’t hate anyone or seek division or argument.
If you would like to send a message of hope to the refugee children and their families struggling to understand America, or to the children seeking safety and freedom all over the world, think about donating $1 to RISSE today and tell them it is for the vulnerable children of the world.
Tell them we support their work.
Tell them we welcome these children to America and hope to help them in every possible way. This message costs almost nothing, is simple to do – Paypal or credit cards – and it will do a great deal of good. The Army Of Good is on the march, and gaining in focus and strength.
If you prefer, you can also support my separate work with with Ali (Amjad Abdullah Mohammed) with these children by sending donations to me c/o Jon Katz, Bedlam Farm, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or via Paypal Friends and Family, [email protected]. The money will be used to support the children’s soccer team, for scholarships to support their passions and needs, and for summer classes, activities and day trips.
We do not stand for hate or argument, but for empathy and compassion. And liberty. You can send a $1 message of goodwill on this sad day right here. You can say, if you wish, it is from an Army Of Good representing the true America.