I’m very happy to report that the new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new, new RISSE Amazon Wish List has only one item left on it, some 409 cleaner refill for $31, I just bought Nasco’s Bucket O’ Beads and Charms (6,500 beads and charms) for $30.

I was talking to a RISSE employee this morning, he told me about a refugee family split about by our new immigration laws, the mother and two children got through, he was left behind thinking he could come later but is now unable to get a visa. He was a social worker in Syria, but was told this week he could not get a visa to join his family here in America.

The family – in great danger there – is in an agonizing position, they can’t go back without facing almost certain death, and unless things change radically here, the husband and father will never see them again. He believes he will be killed or imprisoned if he stays.

I hear these stories all the time, the mother of these children is cleaning floors at a local hospital and cleaning hotel rooms during the day. She was a nurse in Syria. They struggle for food and clothing, and she believes the RISSE after school program is saving her life.

She can’t afford day care for her children in the afternoon, and can’t afford to take the classes she needs to get a better job here.

The children get two hot meals a day at the RISSE after school program and your gifts will enable them to play on learning games, sit on alphabet teaching rugs, make beads and necklaces true to their own culture and get specialized English tutoring from the RISSE teachers.

Without RISSE, their mother would have to stop working at least at one of her jobs.

I am very proud to be one of the sponsors of the RISSE Amazon Wish List program, it is compiled by teachers and RISSE officials who have an intimate knowledge of the needs of the school and the refugee and immigrant families. Our government is slashing or eliminating virtually all of their subsidies and aid to refugees and immigrants.

You have made a stunning difference in the school – new toys, puzzles, supplies, rugs, chairs, lamps, posters, painting supplies and crafts, beads and bracelet tools. None of these things existed before your generosity. I’m going to RISSE each week to photograph and document the wonderful work you are doing. Many blessings upon you, as the prophets used to say.

You are supporting learning, creativity, culture and voice. Our holistic approach to support is working, from soccer and basketball to educational toy sand tools. We are making a difference.

This is a great and relatively new way to contribute.

You get to choose what you want to buy, there are no administrative or other hidden costs to think about, everything is needed and will be used. (you can contribute to my work with the refugee children also, by sending a contribution to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or via Paypal, [email protected]) Please mark your contribution “refugees.”

These people are no danger to America, they are not taking our jobs or planning to harm us. They are our brothers and sisters in the American Dream. Thanks so much for supporting what I believe to be a pure act of patriotism. Check out the RISSE Wish List here, a new list is in the pipeline.