Search Results for: refugees

This week, in Do Good Land:

The Afghan Refugee Child Toy Wish List will go up on Amazon this coming Wednesday. These are toys they requested; their children have crossed the world, moved into small apartments, encountered cold weather, and can’t register in school or make friends for a while.

The Afghan parents are all asking for toys; we hope to oblige. Feel free to send new toys on your own also; the refugee kids encompass all age groups. They must be unique and packaged – you can send them to bishop Maginn High School, Free Store, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202.

Or wait until Wednesday. Or donate to Jon Katz. Afghan Refugees, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816

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The first three sewing machines arrived at Bishop Maginn High School this morning, Maria and I will be going to the school tomorrow. She will teach the kids how to use sewing machines, and I will be interviewing one or two Bishop Maginn refugee students.

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The first five bathrobes arrived at the Mansion today, four more coming later this week. The aides have noticed that many of the residents don’t have bathrobes, and those morning showers can be frigid.

The aides are doing a final count; we plan to make sure that everyone who wants or needs a bathrobe will get one.

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(Ley, Bishop Maginn sophomore.

If you wish to contribute to Afghan refugee support or the Mansion work,  you can do so by donating via Paypal, [email protected], or via Venmo, [email protected]. Or, if you prefer, by sending a check to Jon Katz, Mansion/Refugee fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

The Afghan refugees have arrived with nothing but their clothes. Several different organizations are rushing to help them. Housing is being found for them.

We have a free store set up in the high school; the families can choose what clothes or household supplies they want. If they can’t make it to the school, refugee coordinators will pick up the food and clothing and bring it directly to them.

We have gift certificates for food and turkeys if they wish. They have enough blankets and comforters to be warm, at least for the moment.

As we learn more about their needs – they need just about everything – we’ll share the information and see how and if we can help further.

The toys are essential. I’m eager to get the toy wish list going. It will make a massive difference in the lives of these shell-shocked families. Look for it on  Wednesday.

 

There’s a lot going on at once in our normally orderly little world, so I wanted to update the Army of Good about where we stand as the holiday season looms.

Sewing Machines: We have raised enough money for the first wave of sewing machines for Bishop Maginn.

I ordered three today, and am planning another order tomorrow. Sue Silverstein is trying to figure out how she will incorporate sewing lessons into her classless. and into the refugee community.

Maria has offered to teach some of the classes, and Sue is considering an after-school special program. If the refugee families need sewing machines to make their clothes or repair them, we may buy more for those people. Their children can learn to sew in school and then help out at home. Sewing is a huge factor in the lives of these refugees, the machines could be a great gift.

Thanks for your generosity. Any additional money that comes in tonight or is mailed over the next few days will go to additional machines as this opportunity has now presented itself, or to toys and emergency supplies for new refugees and for Christmas gifts.

The Afghan Refugees. According to a refugee coordinator I just spoke with, there are now 60 Afghan refugee families in the Albany area. More are coming. All of the families have shelter and housing, a number of different church and non-profit organizations are mobilizing to help them.

The Army Of Good and Bishop Maginn High School have paired up to open a free store in the school, which is being stocked with blankets and clothes, perishable food, blankets and towels, and pillows and comforters. We understand that we are too small to take on all of the needs or expenses of the new refugees, we both focus on what we can do – small acts of great kindness. We’re divvying up the needs.

About 500 Afghan refugees are on the way to Albany in the coming days and months. We are not trying to help them all, there are other institutions and agencies working hard to help.

I expect some Afghan students will be coming to Bishop Maginn in January. I’m excited to meet them and help them. A school is a great place for them to come after what they’ve been through. The school has deep experience dealing successfully with traumatized and disoriented refugee children.

We will have an opportunity to help them in small and meaningful ways.

We want to stay focused and restrained. These new refugees will need help for a while, that’s important to remember. This is something of a long haul.  Burnout is a real danger for people who want to help needy people, I hope we keep that in mind.

We’ve helped tremendously with blankets and bedding, the sewing machines were a sudden and very successful offshoot. The refugee coordinator told me just a few minutes ago that the urgent need of Afghan families now is toys for their children. This may change.

We and Bishop Maginn are planning an Amazon Refugee Toy Wish List for Monday or Tuesday of next week. The list will include items the families have specifically requested. I think it’s a wise and appropriate place to go to help.

People are free to buy toys anywhere or anytime they wish before or after or during the Wish List and send them directly to Refugee Aid, Bishop Maginn High School, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202. They’ll go into the free store and will also be distributed to the families that have asked for them. The families have children of all ages, from toddlers to high school age. Those of you with children and grandchildren will probably have their own ideas.

Once again, state and school officials asked that all items shipped to the school be new and packaged, the school can’t accept used materials.

Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving Basket Wish List was a stunning success, FedEx, UPS, and USPS trucks are pulling up at the school all day, each day with more packages than the next. These Thanksgiving baskets will be assembled in the week before Thanksgiving and distributed by local refugee aid groups. Families will be free to come to the school’s free store at any time to pick out what they want and need. We have enough basket items for the families that are here.

Gift Certificates: Turkeys and Food: Thanks to some generous contributions from individual people and some corporations, $25 gift cards will be distributed to each of the refugee families who have requested the Thanksgiving Baskets. They can buy a turkey if they wish or some other food if they prefer. We’ve learned in the past that Thanksgiving is an important holiday for new citizens, they identify with the idea of giving thanks.

Christmas. As of now, the toy wish list is our plan for Christmas. As the country works to restore the supply lines disrupted by the pandemic, we probably need to have a wish list and other supplies in place or ordered shortly. We are moving as quickly as we can.

The school and I have agreed that we will be open to emergency requests from families for things like sweaters and winter shoes and scarves and gloves. We’ve done this for each of the past three years, and I can get hold of these items quickly and inexpensively. I imagine we will be supporting individual families in this way for some months. I hope so.

Oh yes, we are buying about 20 bathrobes for the Mansion residents as winter approaches. Thanks for your support of that also. As always, if anyone is uncomfortable purchasing things online, you can send your donation to me via Paypal, [email protected] or Venmo, [email protected], or by mail or check, Jon Katz, Refuge/Mansion Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

This is an intensive period for us, probably the most challenging in our short but glorious history.

I am grateful for your consideration, trust, and support. You don’t need advice from me, but please be careful not to place your own financial security in jeopardy. Sue Silverstein and I have the same mottos. We do what we can for as long as we can. And we strive to commit small acts of great kindness. We can’t do everything, we can’t even do all that we would like. But we can and are and have done a lot, more than I ever imagined.

The absence of bureaucracy has made us free and mobile and smart. We’ve helped a great many people. There is much talk about the divisions in the country, but there is much unity out there too. The packages have come from every state in the union. My favorite letter was from Jeanna, a rabid Trump supporter from West Virginia; “I hate you, Jon Katz, I am a loyal Trump supporter and I hate what you say about him and I hate your blog and I don’t like dogs. But I admire the good you do, so I’m sending a check for $300. Do what you need to do with it.”

Jeanna had me speechless for once and flummoxed, but I did write her a thank you note: “Jeanna,” I wrote, “I don’t quite know what to say. Thank you and I think I love you, Jon.”

Bishop Maginn High School offers tax credits for people who want to make large donations to the refugee aid programs. Unfortunately, they are not in a position to purchase things. Donations are especially valuables for tuition payments.

If you have any questions about tax credits for your donations, please contact Sue Silverstein, [email protected].

From my end, I will work to keep perspective. Smaller and focused is good for us, although we’ve taken on a lot. We’ve learned a great deal about what we can do and can’t do and how to do it. I so appreciate your support, and so do all of the families and children you are helping.

I’m a huge fan of our wish lists, which we have pioneered in many ways. We have the freedom to help in whatever way and whatever degree we wish. There are no middlemen or administrators, the money spent goes right where it is supposed to go – in this case to the Bishop Maginn Free Store, which has already been cleaned out three times, thanks to our generosity.

The refugee families know about us and what we are doing. We welcome them to the real America.

So this is where we are. This is good and meaningful work, which is both healing and inspiring during a time of so much conflict and fear.

We don’t get mad. We do good. It’s exhausting, but mostly, uplifting.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, [email protected], I’ll try to answer them. I’m personally thrilled to be working with Sue and Mike Tolan and the very dedicated refugee volunteers and the staff at Bishop Maginn.

I’m not sure about God, but if he exists, he is all over these people and the work they do. The Blessed Mother shines on Sue.

 

(Friends, before I write about today, I wanted to mention that we are working on another Bishop Maginn Amazon Refugee Toy Wist List for the newly arriving Afghan refugees, now coming steadily into Albany. The people who needed blankets and asked for them have them, at least as of now; I spoke with a refugee coordinator and also with Sue Silverstein, and both said the urgent need was toys for the children who are stranded in strange apartments and won’t be going to school until January. We’ll put one up as soon as we get detailed information about what the children want. We’d love to get the toys here in time for Christmas, so we’re scrambling on the list.)

Maria and I were both high as kites when we left Bishop Maginn today. In addition to bringing a carload of blankets, comforters, and new boots declined by the Amish (but eagerly sought by refugees).

Maria bought four new quilts for the refugees constructed from four never-used quilt tops and some new ones batting she had purchased for her quilts. They meet all of the CDC and state health guidelines.

She held one of the new tops out for Sue Silverstein’s art class, they wanted to know how to close up the quilts.

Maria and Sue Silverstein talked, and Maria said the quilts need to be tacked, that is tied up, and Sue asked if Maria would be willing to come and teach her art class how to do the tacking. Maria was mobbed by students who wanted to learn how to sew and tack a quilt.

She stayed at the school through lunch and spent well over an hour showing the students – primarily refugees – how to do it properly and safely. They were mesmerized, they are eager to help getting these quilts to the new arrivals.

She said she hadn’t factored in their tiny hands; it was harder for them to thread needles than for her.

The room was stuffed to the rafter with boxes for the Afghan refugees, and the planned Thanksgiving baskets, towels, and blankets are pouring in all week. The free store the school set up for the refugees has sold through three times, but vast loads of packages arrived again today; they are stacked all over Sue’s classroom and in other spaces.

Sue signed Maria and me up to come in and help stuff the Thanksgiving Baskets just before the holiday.

Two refugee agencies have volunteered to distribute them. The blankets and towels go out as quickly as they come in, the need is acute. We believe that every refugee that we know of who was cold now has appropriate bedding and blankets.

(Above. There are boxes everywhere, all around the classroom and in other rooms. They go out as soon as they come in, refugee coordinators pull up in their vans and SUVs all day to get them out where they belong.)

We were both surprised by the student’s love of this class and Sue called up to ask Maria if she would be willing to teach a sewing and quilting class. Quilting is very popular in some of the student’s home countries and there is great interest in it. She enthusiastically agreed.

I took advantage of the time to take some portraits of the refugee’s faces, they photograph beautifully and are perfect for my Leica.

Zinnia was hanging out with the students the whole time, BMHS is like a second home to her. I’ll put up some photos of her separately tonight, but I did want to show the time, Emily Benson, a reporter for the Evangelist, the Catholic Weekly,  showed up to interview Sue and me and Zinnia.

She wanted to know all about Maria and also how easily Zinnia fit into the school. I love Maria, as is obvious, but I am also proud of her. These new quilt tops were sent to her some time, and she wasn’t sure how to use them. When the call went out for comforters, she went to work and patched the tops together.  Then she turned it into an art class for refugee and inner-city kids. That is turning into a regular class for her to each at Bishop Maginn.

This is how good grows. I am very happy to be back at the school every week, we are talking about another writing class for me to teach now that the pandemic is easing.

Channel 10 reporter Jamie DeLine, who did those stories about Zinnia as Prom Queen, also came, but we had to leave before we got to see her. She’s planning on doing a piece on the donations. Apart from everything else, I’m so glad that Bishop Maginn High School is getting the attention it deserves. We need a place like this.

Emily was amazed at the scene – 30 to 40 students piling in for lunch – everyone wants to eat lunch in Sue’s classroom – boxes and bags everywhere, packages coming in and out, and Zinnia walking calmly through the crowd greeting everyone and wagging her tail.

It wasn’t until much later that I noticed french fries were dropping mysteriously all over the room, Zinnia was having a blast.

it was wonderful to see the students loving Maria’s gift of quilts, and also to see the outpouring of donations for the Afghan refugees. This is what I call a heart-lifter. More and more Afghan residents are arriving almost daily. The city is expecting 500.

Don’t let anyone tell you that Americans are mean-spirited and nasty, this is my news, and this is the America I love and believe in. Thank you for all of your support. I am beyond words.

You might remember Pole, we bought him a mattress a few months ago so he and his brother don’t have to sleep on the floor. He is from Myanmar and was excited to help get these four new quilts into the hands of the refugees who asked for them.

He had a lot of trouble threading the needle, Maria stuck with him until he did it. He was determined. We will never forget this day – the boxes, the donations, the kids, the quilts, the love, and connection. Don’t be mad. Be good.

Please lookout for the Amazon Bishop Maginn Afghan Refugee Toy Wish List going up over the next few days. What a day this was.

 

Above, one of the beautiful things to see today is the refugee students at Bishop Maginn High School rushing to help load cars up with the donated goods so urgently needed by the newly arrived Afghan refugees.

They very much remember their first days in America.

Some of the Bishop Maginn families are getting help as well; many are still struggling with poverty, food insecurity, and the disruptions of the pandemic.

I’m eager to get to the school tomorrow to see their “free store” of food and other needs and the packages from you as they arrive. The free store has emptied out two or three times but was refilled by today’s delivery.

I suspect many more packages are on the way.

Now that we’ve found a place where we can help, we want to help. That is what America is about for me, no matter how anyone else feels about it. I am glad I’m not alone in that.

Last week, we asked for bathroom rugs, towels, sheets, blankets, comforters, and quilts.  The response has been stunning; the donations go flying out as soon as they arrive.

The first wave of 500 Afghan refugees has arrived in Albany. Scores will be warm tonight because of our big hearts. At this rate, they’ll all be warm in a day or so.

There are lots of children, lots of students.

Some of the children will be attending Bishop Maginn in January.

(Maria made four quilts from unused new quilt tops and new batting; we’re bringing them tomorrow. She’s going to show Sue Silverstein’s class how to finish them.)

Refugee coordinators also come by to fill up their cards with needed household items – especially blankets, towels, and comforters. Many of these children will be sleeping on the floor or sofas for a while.

Many refugee children sleep on the floor in a living room to save on heating bills and because there is little space.

They are moving into small apartments in and around Albany that social workers have found.

Good people heard the call and are responding. The need is still great. You’ve done plenty; any help is appreciated and very badly needed.

Packages of goods, blankets, bedding, and towels have been pouring into Bishop Maginn all day, as well as items for a Thanksgiving Basket. Sue Silverstein just sent me a photograph of today’s delivery from UPS; they’re still waiting for FedEx and USPS. Below, this morning’s delivery.

Some families come by in person if they have transportation and pick out things from the “free store” that BMHS has set up in the school.  I don’t wish to photograph them; it’s too soon.

Social workers come by in SUVs and vans and are delighted to leave with urgently need clothes and bedding to deliver to the new families. What a beautiful thing to see; I’m so eager to get there tomorrow. The refugee social workers are ecstatic about what they see coming into the school.

I got a present also for Sue Silverstein. I can’t reveal what it is because she reads the blog, and it’s a surprise. She is an angel working herself to the bone to help her students, her future students, and the new refugee families.

Thanks to the good photos taken by LaReina with her Iphone 12. Sue Silverstein took the lousy ones with her Iphone 8, which needs replacing. Yes, I am a snob. Above, a social worker’s car.

I’m going to meet some Afghan refugees shortly; they are willing to meet me and talk with me. I’ve decided not to quote them on the blog or photograph them until they get settled and feel safe.

Abobe, a load of bedding, crammed into a refugee coordinator’s car. It’s lovely to see these photos and feel the love and goodwill coming from those packages. I wish I had the words, but thank you, dear patriots, for what you have done and are doing still.

Thank You!

Maria’s response to the call for quilts and comforters for the Afghan refugees coming into Albany was to grab some batten and some fabrics people have sent her and make four quilts this morning.

We have worked with Bishop Maginn High School to support an Amazon Wish Thanksgiving Basket List that gives the refugees – new and old – some support for creating Thanksgiving meals. We’ve asked Wal-Mart and several other corporations to contribute gift certificates or cards for turkeys.

And we’ve been asking for support for the refugees – especially the Afghans –  in their new apartments.

This week is their first exposure to cold weather, and they are freezing, say the social workers.

We are asking for bathroom rugs, lots of towels, sheets, blankets, quilts, and comforters. They must be new and can be sent to Sue Silverstein, Bishop Maginn High School, 75 Park Avenue,  Albany, N.Y., 12202.

The apartments are small and the families are sometimes large. Some members of the family will be sleeping on floors and sofas as well as beds. For bedding, I’d suggest sheets and pillows and pillowcases come in Queens size, and blankets should be medium or large.

Quilts and comforters should also be large, as they may be used in different ways for different members of the family.

Maria and I are bringing her quilts and some other supplies we have purchased and bringing them to Albany this Wednesday. I hope to meet some of the Afghan refugees then.  I’ll keep everyone posted, thanks.

Check out the Wish List, if you can. There’s not much left, we should sell out by tonight, and thanks.