Search Results for: RISSE

The new RISSE Amazon Wish List has only 18 items left, and I thank the Army Of Good, a nation with big hearts, for whittling the list down every day.

The list is deliciously diverse, it ranges from soccer shorts to dictionaries to yoga mats to reading programs. The items range from $7 to $35 to warm winter clothes and socks.

The list is impressive and varied – and revealing.

It has been compiled by the teachers in the RISSE after school program. They know better than anyone what these children – refugees and immigrants – need.

I don’t need to tell you that this is a difficult time for refugees and immigrants in America. Many suffered greatly to come here, and are suffering greatly trying to live here.

The aid and subsidy programs that helped them adjust to America are cut or gone. RISSE is one of the few places they can turn to for help.

We are another.

I am happy to support the RISSE Wish List, and I am so happy so many of you feel the same way. This is a wonderful way to do good without arguing about what good is.

It is a wonderful way to show these children and their parents that many of us welcome them in America, and are grateful to be given the chance to help them.

This money goes straight to the refugees and their children, no middle-men, no administrators, no waiting for boards of directors to vote.

Thanks for helping, you can take a look at the list here. I start every morning by buying a single item, sometimes two or three. It is the most wonderful way to get the tone for my day.

I  believe in taking direct action to help people other than myself. It is selfish, in a way. Small acts of great kindness.

It makes me feel as good or better than I  have ever felt.

This is a reminder to the members of the Army Of good and those of you with big hearts.

The new and expanded RISSE Wish List is up on Amazon, full of inexpensive things the refugees and immigrants need, especially those kids in the After School program.

Also, a reminder that I (we) have committed to supporting a percentage of  Sakler Moo’s tuition at the Albany Academy in Albany, N.Y. This year, we paid $6,000 towards the tuition Sakler needs for one year at the prestigious academy.

Included in that money is the $2,000 we are paying on behalf of Sakler’s mother, who was worried she could not pay that amount.

I have about half of the money in a special Sakler Moo Education Fund account, I have pledges for some of the other $2,000 to $3,000 that I will need to pay in the summer of 2019.

We will need roughly this amount (perhaps smaller) for the 2020 and 2021 school  year as well. Sakler is an especially bright and talented refugee from Thailand, he had the highest  GPA in his middle school in Albany, he was a member of Ali’s soccer team.

I have some time to collect this money but I wanted to mention Sakler so that people don’t forget him. He is doing well at the academy, working hard, comfortable there. I’m excited for his future.

As you may know, I am working to get two other refugee children full scholarships, several private schools are interested in supporting this program, including the Albany Academy. We are seeking full scholarships so no additional funds need to be collected for their tuition.

If you wish to help the refugee students in the RISSE school. you can see their wish list here. There are lots of inexpensive items on the list.

If you wish to help Sakler’s tuition, you can send a contribution to me, c/o Jon Katz, The Sakler Moo Education Fund, P.O. 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.  Under new federal banking regulations, my name must be on the check if I am the one cashing it. You can put Sakler Moo’s name anywhere on the check.

I  want to start saving for the next three years, not just the next one. Sakler Moo is an extraordinary young man and he deserves this opportunity.

In the coming weeks I’ll be going to Albany to meet with Sakler and take some fresh photographs, I’ve been staying away to protect his privacy. This is a reminder about the fund, and thanks.

Thanks so much for supporting the new RISSE Amazon Wish List, it is long and revealing, in itself a window into the great need of the refugees and immigrants who have come to America in search of a meaningful new life and found themselves instead in the middle of an awful controversy about their very right to be here.

I was touched to see that one of the items listed are 15 new shorts for the soccer team, now back under the sponsorship of RISSE.

I could write a book about my tortuous relationship with RISSE, but I’d rather channel all of our energy and compassion into helping these children and their families directly.

I am grateful for the support you have the team, which desperately needed our support. They have uniforms and soccer balls now.

I hope RISSE will take good care of them this time around.

RISSE, the refugee and immigration center in Albany, N.Y., does a lot of good, and is the last and only refuge for so many of these people, struggling ot acclimate to a complex and expensive culture.

I begin every day with a donation to the RISSE Wish List, there are many inexpensive items there and I hope we can get the soccer team the shorts they need to play and also help the children  and their families get some desperately need winter clothes and underwear and and books and tools for learning.

Ali’s soccer team, a wonderful good work in itself, is now under the umbrella of  RISSE, I am happy to try to help them, they are wonderful people.

I am a fan of the wish lists, the money goes quickly and straight to where it is supposed to go, there are no go-betweens or administrators or board members in between. You know exactly what your money is doing.

The other Wish Lists we have worked to start, the Amazon Mansion Wish List,  has also been successful. The list is empty now, we’ve buzzed through it a dozen times.

I’ve also recommend a Wish List for WBTN, a community radio station where I do my “Talking To Animals” show every Wednesday.

I think the Army Of Good has had an enormous impact on the the way to contribute to good causes, all of our wish lists have been transformative.
We have helped little WBTN in quite a bit in just a few short weeks. They are in shock.

Small acts of great kindness all over the place.

You can choose what you wish to purchase, and how much money you want to spend. This is a very effective way to do good, I hope you will take a look.

The RISSE list was very successful when we first recommended it, then it stopped suddenly. I am grateful that RISSE is putting it up again.

The Army Of Good has supported these refugees from the first, and I will not ever give up on that direction. They haver never needed us more than now.

Next week, I am meeting with officials and students at a prestigious private school, they wish to join up with me and get at least one full scholarship for next year for one, perhaps even two, refugee students who are succeeding so brilliantly in the public school system.

I am urging them to join forces with me and my blog readers, they have  raised a considerable amount of money already. We can work together, and successfully, I think,  I’ll explain all of this when we meet.

I am focusing heavily on getting scholarships for some of these students, as we did for Sakler Moo. Thanks, as always, for your support. You can see the new RISSE list here.

It is so much better to do good that to argue about what good is.

I am delighted to report that there is a new RISSE Amazon Wish List up and running. I hope you will consider contributing to it.

Two weeks ago, I requested that RISSE, the Refugee and Immigrant Support Organization headquarted in Albany, N.Y. put up an Amazon Wish List so we could resume this direct support of the refugees and immigrants in  this area and elsewhere, they have never been in greater need of material and political support.

The first series of lists raised tens of thousands of dollars from the Army Of Good, then was abruptly discontinued.

This week, RISSE responded by putting up an extensive, inexpensive and urgently needed  new list of school and other items for families – especially books, classroom tools, thermal underwear and leggings for the winter.

This ranges in price from $6 to $170 and includes needed English-Foreign language dictionaries, winter socks, a mix of family and school needs.

I am so happy to see it is back. Please go and take a look, this is the most extensive Wish List yet. These wish lists are the cornerstone of my work with refugees and the elderly, they permit people to choose the amount and nature of their gifts, and they bypass entrenched and sometimes unaccountable bureaucrats.

Instead of finding a bargain online, perhaps we could keep our perspective and help human beings in need.

You know precisely where you gifts are going and to whom. None of this money goes to me or administrators, it goes directly where it ought to go.

(I want to be transparent as always:

As many of you know, my relationship with the RISSE bureaucracy has not been simple, I had irreconcilable differences with the RISSE bureaucracy over the distribution of donated money and accountability for where it goes.

I believe people who send me money have the right to see where every penny goes, and that it gets there immediately.

I couldn’t work it out with the director, and the RISSE bureaucracy was not interested in working it out with me, so, after many failed attempts and much frustration and wasted energy on my part,  I began supporting the refugees and immigrants directly, and through the Wish List.

This conflict – human beings sometimes seem unable to ever resolve conflict  in a quick or just way –  should not be an obstacle to helping people who need help desperately. The immigration and refugee issue is much too important for petty bickering or politics.

This foolishness doesn’t matter. I’m not into politics or grudges. I’ll continue to do what I can do for the refugees, and I hope the Army Of Good will join with me.)

I believe so strongly that the refugee experience is the American experience, and it has never been under more sustained and dishonest attack than now. Here, with the RISSE Wish List, we can help directly and where it is most needed.

The refugee children and their families should not suffer for the failures of adults who should know better, so I am hoping we can resume our support of this Wish List, the 35 items will go right to the teachers and children in the critical RISSE after school program, which helps immigrant and refugee children acclimate to American and permits their parents to find jobs and work.

I will support this list in every way that I can. The cold weather is here. Those people need those leggings and tights.

If you wish, you can also donate directly to RISSE, they do good work for many people and are a valuable resource both refugees and immigrants. I would encourage you to do so.

And if you need it, the RISSE shipping address is 715 Morris Street, Albany, N.Y., 12208., the number is 518 621-1041.

I bought three items this morning, and visiting this list will be an integral part again of my day. Every time I make a purchase on this list, I see the faces of these children and their families and I feel good. Take a look at it if you can.