At 1 p.m. Sunday, Maria and I are heading to Albany to meet Ali (Amjad Abdulla) at a supermarket in central Albany. There, we will buy between $150 to $200 worth of groceries and bring them to a refugee family in need of some support.

By definition, a refugee has suffered persecution or disaster, and now, when they come to the United States, they are suffering persecution yet again, and in an especially cruel and thoughtless way.

Their support and subsidies have been slashed so that people who come here because they have lost everything, lose the financial and administrative support that helped them make the transition to our country.

The idea, worked out by me and Ali, is to bring roughly a months worth of groceries to a different refugee family each month. Some come from Eastern Europe, some from Africa, others from Asia, Mexico or South America.

The family we are seeing tomorrow is from the Congo in Africa, they were in a U.N. refugee camp where the father was killed. The mother is here with eight children, and struggling to care for them and feed them.

One month’s groceries is literally a drop in the bucket, but RISSE, the refugee and immigrant support center in Albany, offers longer term support – language and financial classes, help with paperwork and jobs, clothing and computing skills.

I hope to show the refugees the truly generous heart and spirit of America, what Ali and I call the “Real America.”

That is about all the support they have now. So one step at a time, one small act of kindness at a time, this feels very good to me, and I will be there with my camera. The family is happy to be photographed and grateful for the food.

Tomorrow kicks off what will hopefully be a continuous project, a monthly food run to a refugee family in need of some help. They see America as a beacon, a generous place of opportunity and assimilation. I see it that way also.

It is better to do good than argue about what good is. I’ve received a number of donations for the food program and thank you.