This morning, a letter from Denise Gayley, a long time supporter of this blog, and a 90-year-old retired school teacher. Get a tissue ready.
“Please use this where the need is greatest,” Denise wrote “I am 90 years old, and may not be here tomorrow.
As a retired teacher, I want to leave more than footprints in the sand. However, I favor more feeding those in immediate need rather than laptops – which are surely the future. Perhaps we should be teaching “Kindness Matters!” Keep up your excellent work! From a former border collie mom. Cordially, Denise Gayley.”
Denise, you are still teaching, and your letter and check are a powerful message and a beautiful lesson.
Your check will go to buy gift cards for the Bishop Maginn High School students and families who are running out of money for food and are out of school for a while.
This will go a very long way to feed them. The message and your great heart speak for themselves, I can think of nothing to add other than thank you.
Kindness matters.
This donation will go to our Price Chopper Gift Card Program. I’ll buy the cards today and send them off to the school when the come. We are buying gift cards from Price Chopper, the grocery chain closest to the refugee families and their apartments.
Many of the student’s parents have already lost their jobs, which were mostly minimum wage cleaning jobs. I have been told by the Bishop Maginn teachers that these are people who never ask for anything, and who are desperate for food.
The teachers have been buying breakfast and lunch meals for some of their students for some time. Things just got a lot worse.
We’ve already gone through the snack program from our Bishop Maginn Wish List, these gift cards have been a Godsend. Before the Army Of Good, the teachers were buying extra groceries out of their own pockets to share with the students who are hungry.
The school is receiving some mail, but gift cards are considered packages and they can only be sent to mailing addresses like mine: Jon Katz, 2502 State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. They can’t go to post office boxes. So if you purchase any please send them to my home address listed right above.
I will get them to Sue Silverstein, the school’s art and theology teacher, she will get them to the families. If you can or choose, you can buy the cards in any amount.
The $25, $50, $75 and $100 cards are the most popular and the easiest for Sue to distribute.
If you choose to contribute more, we will surely figure out how to handle it. Thanks, Jon and thanks again, Denise.
Angels are said to often take human form. If and when you leave us, Denise, you will be in good company.