Some of you might recall a posting her from Saturday, I wrote an emergency meeting with Ali at our convenience store “office” halfway between Albany and the farm.

Ali got an early morning phone call from two members of the soccer team, Thin Yat and Ka, above, they were scheduled to leave on Sunday morning for a two-week stay in the summer camp run by their Church.

They thought their parents would be able to get them a number of items required to get on the bus, including hiking boots but at the last-minute, they learned from their father that the family just couldn’t afford to help.

So they called Ali, and he called me, and I gave him $300 from our refugee fund. Ali went straight to Wal-Mart with the boys – both on their school  honor roll, as Ali requires.

We rushed to our “office” to make sure we could get them what they needed in time, they were due to leave the next morning.

At Wal-Mart, Ali bought them each a pair of Timberland hiking boots, two pillows, two blankets, two backpacks, soap, bug spray, body spray and wash, deodorant, water bottles, two drawing books, and with the $40 left over, some snacks for the trip and to have at camp.

The Church provides the camp and counselors, but the campers have to bring all of their personal needs and effects. If they hadn’t called Ali, they would not have been able to go. This is the kind of work Ali and I specialize in, small acts of great kindness.

The soccer kids are notoriously reluctant to ask for help, and they never complain. These two boys spent most of their lives in refugee camps and had not ever been to camp. Ali checked on them yesterday, they are having a blast.

I am very proud to think of them taking hikes on their notoriously rugged and dry Timberland shoes.

Since cell phones are banned at the camp, no photos until they get back. Thanks for helping their dream come true this summer and helping to give them some rest and recreation in a hot summer.

Your support makes this work possible. To support the soccer team, you can send your donations to me, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected].

And thanks, if you want to feel good today, just think of Thin Ya and Ka, swimming and hiking and enjoying their first summer camp. It is so much better to do good than to argue about what good is.