This year, I am re-dedicating myself to the refugees and immigrants who have come to America, they are my  brothers and sisters, my children. I admit I do not understand the process by which so many political leaders and other people have come to see them as dangerous or unwelcome.

That is not what I see, not what I feel. The other night, I had a nightmare, we had a new President and a new administration and I drifted back to my former life, focusing mostly on my blog, photos and books. In the dream, the Army Of Good melted slowly away, all of us returning to our normal lives and pursuits.

I woke up and asked myself if I was really committed to this cause, if I meant to pursue and reach out to these people and stay with them. I believe the answer is yes, my commitment to this is stronger than ever, for them, for my country, for me.

Refugees do not have to be rich or successful to come her and be welcomed, almost all of them come from the “shithole” countries our President denigrated. I have found that the most desperate and badly wounded of the immigrants are passionately invested in success, in finding work, in doing well, in being loyal and productive future citizens.

I have not yet me a one who doesn’t wish to work and contribute and give their children betters lives than they had, and work to heal the great wounds so many of them bear. Everybody plans and wishes and hopes, and so do they.

In her wonderful essay “We Refugees,” first published in 1943, Hannah Arendt writes “We lost our home, which means the familiarity of daily life. We lost our occupation, which means the confidence that we are of some use in this world. We lost our language, which mans the naturalness of reactions, the simplicity of gestures, the unaffected expression of feelings.”

And many of the refugees I have met lost much more than that – their mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, their brothers an sisters, their peace of mind and traditions. The experience of being a refugee is the experience of almost total loss. There are so many holes to fill.

This year, we have lifted the shroud from many lives and brought some light and eased much suffering. We have paid off the burdensome loans of mothers, bought clothes for a score of children, bought tools for artists, donated clothing to hundreds, brought groceries to families, bought uniforms for the soccer team, are planning for summer camp trips, uniforms for the girl’s basketball team, birthday parties and movie outings, boat trip and amusement park visits, country retreats, furnished school classrooms, bought supplies, paid for lessons.

They are learning that they are not alone any more, there are generous and welcoming people who wish to help them.

We are just getting started. This is such an important cause, it took me months to win their trust, and I hope to earn it in the coming year.  One simple and inexpensive way to help is through the new RISSE Amazon Wish List.

The are things they need.

Another way to help is through my own work with the refugees and immigrants I am meeting.

I hope you can continue to join me in this work as we plan for 2018. I’m in all the way. If you wish to help, you can send your contribution to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or via Paypal, [email protected]. Please mark your contributions “refugees,” and thank you.