Search Results for: RISSE

I couldn’t ask for a sweeter birthday gift than the photos Sue Silverstein sent me of the art supplies and books pouring into Bishop Maginn High School (where many refugee children and inner-city kids go) after our recent wish list sold out.

Thank you. The Wish List asked for approximately $2,000 in support for their Fall programs. The list sold out in a few hours.

Of the score of wish lists we’ve done for the Mansion and Bishop Maginn, this one sold out the fastest. That is a wonderful message to send to these students, who often say the outside world doesn’t care much about them.

I confess to buying a bunch of books myself.

The packages stacking up outside the principal’s office tell them otherwise, and send them a message they desperately want and need to hear.

A lot of people messaged me to say the wish list disappeared so quickly it was empty when they got to it. Good for the Army of Good.

But if you got there too late for our Wish List,  you can still help needy refugee children in Albany. RISSE, the immigrant and refugee immigration center, is looking to raise money to send their child out on field trips this summer and fall. They always wear masks. You can see the RISSE gofundme project here and down below.

I loved this list, it means the students at the school can launch into a slew of fun art projects that boost their confidence and their creativity.

A number of Bishop Maginn students know friends who have been shot on the street in Albany. None, blessedly are from  BMHS.

The English department got a slew of culturally relevant books for kids who are eager to read but have few books that reflect their lives.

Thanks to you, that is no longer a problem. Bishop Maginn is on a roll, their reputation for teaching these kids and getting them to college is growing and their Fall enrollment is the highest ever.

The school will start for these students amidst a horrific outbreak of violence around inner-city Albany. These tools will help them weather the trouble. Thank you, thank you.

This week I’m going to the school to re-visit a refugee girl from Myanmar – her family lost everything in the genocide there. When she got to a high school in Albany, she became a target in the early years of Trump refugee baiting and was beaten so severely she had to be hospitalized.

Her family sent her to Bishop Maginn, where she was loved, protected, supported, and educated.

She has gone on to enter a highly competitive awards program offered by the State University At Albany for especially gifted students with great grades.

When I met this then very shy and anxious student, she barely spoke English. She speaks it fluently now.

I look forward to catching up with her this Wednesday and writing about her. She says she’s excited to talk to me again.

For those of you who couldn’t get there fast enough, but want to help refugees,  here is another way you can help the large and refugee community in Albany.

Risse, the Refugee Immigrant and Support Center is seeking to raise $3,000 to send refugee children out on field trips this summer and the rest of this year. They’ve set up a gofundme project, you can contribute here.

RISSE is not connected to Bishop Maginn, the two operate independently of one another. 

Some of you might recall that Risse was the very first place we tried out the Wish List idea for fund-raising for refugee families. It worked.

Francis Sengabo, the Operations Director at Risse (they are seeking a new Executive Director) is a friend and an honest and dedicated supporter of the refugees coming to America. He is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and spent years in refugee camps in Africa.

He helps a lot of people will put any donations to good use.

We have been supporting the RISSE ballet dancers with dresses and bars to practice on.

They need 10 more ballet slippers books to give each of the dancers a copy. They are on the RISSE Amazon Wish List for $6.99. I propose that we support the RISSE  girls ballet group all year, much as we supported the soccer team last year, and help them in any way we can. This would be a good start. I bought four books, someone else bought one, and thanks.

They only need ten more.

RISSE is a refugee support and information center based in Albany, day in and day out, they do more to help refugees and their children than any organization I know of. Every day, I love my country by going to their  new RISSE Amazon Wish List and supporting the boys and girls in their after school program.

This list focuses on young women and their sports and culture.

It also seeks educational materials like paper and dictionaries for their after school program. I begin every day by something off of that list, I hope you will also take a look at it and support our wonderful country and its values.

If you  wish to stay grounded and hopeful in these wrenching times, this list is a good way to do it. Try and see, it sure works for me. There are 12 items on the list, 14 are already gone.

These people have suffered enough, they have all come here legally and risked their lives to do it. They work hard every day. They are not criminals, rapists or drug dealers.

Most have spent years in refugee camps, they are deserving our support, and our country needs us know to show the way to compassion and empathy.

Take a look at the RISSE Amazon Wish List  of you are so inclined, and thanks.

I wanted to let you know there is a new RISSE Amazon Wish List, I know some of you have been purchasing items on the list regularly, as I have.

There are 12 different items on the list, they range in price from $6.99 to $150.00. The benefit the school and boys and girls athletic and cultural activities.

We all have many demands on our money, this is a good and timely cause for those who can help. Thanks. You can see the list here.

I consider it a spiritual act purchase one item in the morning before I get to work. Practical Good. Take Action In The Real World. Every Day.

(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!)