(Friends, this Wish List Is Sold Out On New Year’s Eve. The barres are on the way. Thank you!)

They call it a Ballet Barre, it is one of three Barre’s requested by the RISSE Amazon Wish List.

The list began with 36 items, many of them for multiple requests of one item – thermal shirts for the soccer team, games and learning toys for the young refugee children, computer and dictionaries that translate English into various other languages.

All last year, we helped the refugee soccer team get the equipment and practice time they needed.

This time, the young woman at RISSE need our help. They need three Ballet Barre’s (bars) so they can feel like dancers and practice like dancers.

The Army Of Good plowed its way through this long and diverse list in a couple of weeks, full of the Christmas spirit and the larger call to keep our  American tradition of generosity and empathy alive.

You have all made so many lives in the refugee and immigrant community so much better. As my grandmother used to say, may a million angels shower you with rose petals.

I’m sitting here today pondering the last item, I think it is, in some ways the toughest. It’s stuck in my head. I’ve met some of the dancers at RISSE, they are an extraordinary group of young women, full of energy and hope.

Like Ali’s soccer team, they and their program are much more than what they seem, they are a path forward for children with few resources and beleaguered and often overwhelmed parents.

Families come here to give their children better lives, but are often so busy working several jobs and trying to acclimate to our complex culture, they have no resources to help their kids.

I wasn’t sure about the three Ballet Barre’s when I first saw them, but then I did my homework. If you’ve seen any of those classy dance movies, you  see a Ballet Barre (bar) in front of those big glass mirrors, this is where the dancers warm up and practice.

Each one of the three requested barre’s cost $76.99.

They are essential for learning and self-awareness for the dancers, they see themselves in the mirror and learn and practice.

At RISSE, the young dancers (this is an afterschool program) have no mirror and no bars, they practice with chairs in a crowded  and noisy cafeteria.

These barre’s will help them feel like dancers and learn like dancers. Like good soccer uniforms for the boys, they are important.

I was not able to work directly with RISSE, but the Amazon RISSE Wish List (which we suggested and have supported)  has given me – and you – a way to help these children directly, and that is perhaps the best way to help them at all, as I look back.

We don’t need any bureaucrats or officials, we just need ourselves and one another.

I’m buying one barre this afternoon, I hope we can buy the other two and finish off this important list as we begin the New Year. I like to think of these talented young women getting a fair boost for their creativity.

I like to think of them learning what our country is really about.

For me, I can’t think of a much better way to kick off New Year’s Eve.

You can check out the last item on this edition of the RISSE Amazon Wish List here. And I wish you a meaningful and peaceful New Year.

(Friends, on New Year’s Even, this Wish List is now sold out. Thank you!)