Very happy news, four people wanted to buy Blue’s painting, which I offered for sale last night. It was sold to Tina for $30. Blue is an especially gifted artist, Maria was quite impressed with her work.

Blue is from Japan, and she is thrilled to be able to use the new brushes and paints the Army Of Good sent her last week.  She is making good use of them.

She is trying to capture the culture in her home country.

Maria wants to an art show of her work and some of the other artists in Sue Silverstein’s art class.

Last week, we sold three paintings of Paw Lway Shee, another very talented artist in the class. She earned  $150, which could mean groceries this week for her family. She tried to give the money to Sue, because Sue had paid for the art supplies she used,  but Sue made her take it back.

We’ll pick up more paintings from both of these  refugee artists next week, and thanks as always for your support. I am saving some money to buy sneakers and some shirts for some of the refugee children at Bishop Maginn, male and female. Some of these students are so poor they wear sandals in the winter and have no sweatshirts or extra shirts.

They need some summer clothes, and will need some winter clothes, for sure.

I’d like to fill some of these holes over the next weeks and months. Sneakers can make a huge difference in their world, on many levels. I learned this working with the RISSE soccer team.

So can sweatshirts. I’ll buy the clothes online – I am skilled at this now – and bring them to the school, I may be going there to teach a writing class.

If you wish to contribute to this work, you can send a donation to me via Paypal, [email protected] or by check, Jon Katz Bishop Maginn, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.