Your gifts from the ever changing RISSE Amazon Wish List are going to furnish and open a library and music room, at the RISSE after school program in Albany, N.Y., for the nearly 200 refugee and immigrant students who go to school there, cramped into an upper floor of a Methodist Church with nothing on the walls or floor, and no place in the music room or new library to sit.

Until the Army Of Good, there are three new bean bag chairs there and one more than I bought today, along with some towel paper. They do, in fact, need everything. I planned to go to Albany Tuesday to take some photos of the new rooms, which also have some light now, thanks to the lamps  you purchased for them.

I am mildly addicted to this as a morning ritual.

There’s a good size snow storm headed here tomorrow, and I might not get there until Thursday, but I will get there to take some photos and show you what you have done. The teachers are stunned and grateful. They are wonderfully dedicated people, and they needed some reinforcements.

The list has some good stuff on it, electric pencil sharpeners, braided carpets for the bare floors ($39.00), some markers and crayons for $9, some washable magic markers for $15.00, and one of the oldest items on the list, the $500 outdoor trash can. I told RISSE I suspect that will be there for awhile unless some wealthy soul steps in.

But you never know.

There are plenty of inexpensive  things to buy, and the staff at RISSE has done a wonderful job of putting out a list of urgent needs that change and evolve. I love watching the items disappear. They got the 20 Oxford Picture Dictionaries they needed, and all five of the bean bag chairs they wanted.

I think my next purchase, when I can, will be a braided rug. Those hard wooden floors make a lot of noise and are a big grim. The list also lists some world wall maps for $13.90.

I am eager to get there to see the changes, I am told we are transforming the place. Some people bought the Lion posters, others bought different posters and sent them to RISSE, they will bright up the barren walls.

Thanks to the Army Of Good for doing this,  you have brought hope and love to a place that really needs a lot of both. I keep telling the kids that we are a generous and welcoming people. They are beginning to see the truth of it.