6 November

Wish List: SOS. Blankets And Books For Bishop Maginn

by Jon Katz

An SOS, a new Bishop Maginn High School Wish List. There are four items on the list, ranging in price from $9.99 to $27.99.

We are seeking warm clothes and urgently needed used Spanish textbooks.

As the first very cold wave descends on the area, a call for help has gone out from the refugee families. Nearly half of Bishop Maginn’s students can’t pay full tuition, and when it gets cold, families begin asking for help.

They not only lost everything, but they also wound up in a winter environment for the first time in their lives.

God Bless America, and the vulnerable children who come here seeking freedom, safety and opportunity.

Many refugee families can’t afford to heat their homes every day or all day, or even at all. The families tend to gather at night in central rooms – living room, dining room – and sleep on or under blankets to get warm.

As the winter progresses, money runs out and heating oil becomes scarce for these families. The government subsidies that helped once have all but slashed or eliminated.

So the Wish List is seeking 15 blankets at $20.99 each, 10 MalloMe Sleeping Bags for $24.99 each, 10 pairs of Zando warm thick winter socks (sold out), $9.99 a pair, 15 Autentico Spanish Grammar books, (used from $22.90).

NOTE: To send wish list items to Bishop Maginn, you may need their address (you can add it to your Amazon address list or just add it one time). The address is Bishop Maginn High School, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202.

They need blankets, and we are recommending sleeping bags, something they say they would love but cannot afford. We asked.

As the winter worsens, more and more families come for help, and the teachers look out for students wearing flip-flops, sneakers in the snow, or who do not have jackets or hats.

Some of the kids ask for help, most don’t.

I’m focusing on that when I can with money raised on my blog for the Mansion/Refugee Clothing Fund.

I hope we can help with the first Wish List wave: blankets, sleeping bags, wool socks. With the Amazon Bishop Maginn Wish List, people can choose to donate what they wish, the items go directly to the school and the people who need them.

People have powerful new ways to help others, to do good.

The blankets are urgently needed, I think the sleeping bags could make a big difference to children huddled on blankets on cold floors. So would warm socks.

At the same time, Spanish teacher Jessica Romera has asked for help in getting 20 Spanish Learning Autentico workbooks for her Spanish class. In the video below, Ms. Romera explains why they are necessary for her Spanish students.

Thanks for considering the Wish List. The Bishop Maginn experiment is working, the school is offering a warm and supportive oasis for children who have literally been through hell.

Their curriculum is expanding, their enrollment is up.

For me, there is nothing that shows my love of my country more than helping them be warm and learn how to live in America. Please help support the Wish List if you can. It’s not a large or especially expensive one.

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