I want to make sure on this Memorial Day holiday that I remember the dead in many different ways – from war to virus – and also that I don’t forget to remember Price Chopper Gift Cards for the very food insecure families of Bishop Maginn.
In the four years that the Army Of Good has been in existence, there has never been a mission quite the Price Chopper Gift Card program.
We have helped all kinds of people in all kinds of ways.
We helped Joshua Rockwood save his farm from animal rights extremists, kept countless Mansion residents in clean and warm clothes, and are providing them lunches and art supplies now and disinfectant foggers.
We have aided hundreds of refugee kids and families in Albany, N.Y., where many came to flee genocide, starvation, and war.
But I’ve never been faced with worrying about how to feed between 40 and 50 refugee families in the Bishop Maginn family, caught in the cruel grip of the coronavirus.
Feeding the hungry is a staggering task in our country, much too big for me or us.
But feeding the Bishop Maginn families is within our reach, we have raised more than $17,000 to keep these students and their families from going hungry or eating nothing but rice. I promised myself a month ago that none of these people will go hungry, and you are helping me keep that promise.
The pleas for help are wrenching and remind me of what it means to be a human.
While many people in America are coming out, their communities opening up, the light has yet to shine on these families, all part of the Bishop Maginn High School community. Stimulus money does not reach them, they often don’t qualify for unemployment relief.
Some hope to return to their jobs shortly, or when it is safe. But not yet.
Some are terrified to even approach government agencies for help.
You have been a godsend to them, I hope we can continue to support them through our gift card program.
Many of these people clean the floors in hospitals and office buildings, many got sick. Some are not receiving the food stamp benefits and rent aid they were receiving before, for all kinds of bureaucratic reasons.
I’m told the virus went through the refugee community like “wildfire,” in the words of one social worker.
Our government does not really support refugee families anymore, they seem to throw obstacle after obstacle in front of them in the obvious hope they will go away or not come here at all.
If you can, please support or continue to support our gift card program. You can buy gift cards from Price Chopper in any amount, but they must be sent to me at Jon Katz, 2502 State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
If you aren’t comfortable purchasing them online, please send your contribution to me via Paypal, [email protected], or Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or to the above address.
I will overnight them to Sue Silverstein of Bishop Maginn, and she will distribute them to the neediest families.
They are immensely grateful for our support, the families keep asking me to make sure that you know that. You can see and buy the gift cards here. I am grateful as well.
In the coming years, I will look back at this gift card program as one of our shining hours.
On this Memorial Day Weekend, I wish to remember these families and the lives that they lost and left behind.
I want to remember the true dream and promise of America, that light still burns brightly, as you have proven.
Okay back to the ice pack.