I’ve been busy, and am about to be busier. And I couldn’t feel better about it. But I took the photo above because I want you to see what you have done. The Army Of Good is a powerful army, it turns out.
I’m focusing somewhat – not exclusively – on the Mansion residents and the RISSE soccer team over the next couple of weeks, as well as life on the farm and my life. At the Mansion, my expanded clothing drive continues later today, when I rush some nice winter clothes over to the residence during this cold wave.
The more you get to know people, the more you see they might need, and these are small and inexpensive things that really make a difference.
Our sleigh ride has been re-scheduled for December 26, the day after Christmas, we will ride down Main Street, the Country Girls Cafe has offered to serve hot chocolate when we get there. The residents are buzzing about this ride, and they will get to parade through town. Red and I hope to be on board.
On Wednesday, January 3, we’ll have a New Year’s Pizza and Hot Fudge Sunday Celebration at the Mansion with the residents and the RISSE soccer team, the first coming together of these two favorite elements of the Army of Good, our way of staying grounded and doing good (and feeling good). (The RISSE winter clothing drive here is still on and thanks, it’s already a cold winter and the needs is great.)
The soccer kids will sit and have lunch with the residents, and talk with them insofar as they can. Then the kids will get to make their own hot fudge sundaes. It is so valuable for the residents to talk to the young, they so miss having children in their lives.
On December 27, the RISSE soccer team – now known as the Bedlam Farm Warriors – will meet a refugee soccer team originally from Burma, now living in Rochester, N.Y.
Weather permitting, they’ll play against each other. If it’s too messy or cold they’ll just meet at Pompanuck Farms and hang out together.
Everybody is very excited about it.
On January 8, I’ll meet at the Mansion with a wonderful gardener, Bliss McIntosh, the driving force behind our town’s Community Garden, she will help me to set up a Geranium Garden for the residents to tend over the winter, and which will hopefully yield some beautiful flowers for their rooms. (Color is much appreciated at the Mansion).
The project will bring living things to nurture into the Mansion, always important.
Bliss is donating Geranium cuttings, and I’ve ordered growing trays, nursery pots, Rooting Hormone, and soilless soil from various garden centers.
We’re setting up the garden on the back side of the Great Room where there is plenty of light.
The residents who volunteer will tend the plants and make sure they are watered. So will I.
We’re also supporting some holiday activities for the refugee kids who are out of school for a week-and-a-half. These include indoor soccer tournaments, pizza lunches, birthday parties, ice-skating, other trips.
I woke up at 3 a.m. with this flash – I have to get the soccer kids to “Star Wars” which opened this week. I called Ali and he was happy about it, but i realized he has never heard of “Star Wars,” I told him to Google it and mention it to the team and he called me right back.
That will also be on December 26. “They are wildly excited,” he said. He was shocked to learn once more that a trip like that to the movies with soda and popcorn for 12 or 14 kids will cost close to $300 (he first learned this when he and the kids saw “Spiderman.”
I told him I will get the money.
In the short run, I feel some urgency to make sure all of the residents who need some clothes, especially winter clothes, get them in the next day or so. Various robes, leggings, sweaters and socks are coming over the next few days.
I got the clothes above over the weekend at favored Thrift Shop.
I am fussy about the clothes I get, I don’t want them to be worn and shabby, and I got some nice stuff. The next step is matching them up with the right people. The idea is to be warm and but also feel pride and dignity.
The magazine is for Bob, a former builder, we got a subscription for him, but it keeps coming here. On the left are two nice pairs of warm and flexible pants for a resident who has none. I love the sweater in the middle, and I think I know where the two vests – one fleece, one down – are going. The aides know exactly what everyone needs.
I’ll consult with the staff about who needs what, and make sure the people in the greatest need get them first. And I got that funky plastic necklace for $4. The clothing campaign has turned out to be more extensive (and expensive) than I first thought, but we will get everybody in good shape this week.
If anybody wishes to support these enterprises (small donations really add up), that would be great. You can donate by writing your checks to me c/o P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or donating via Paypal.
The Mansion/Refugee Fund now stands at $700, and thanks. I wish all of you as good and meaningful a holiday as I am having, you are such a big part of that.