Once a week or so, Ali and I meet halfway between Albany and Cambridge in our “office,” a convenience store in Schaghticoke, N.Y. When I think about it, it is a beautiful thing, a Muslim and  a Jew sitting in this small town out in the country, turning some of the heads of the truckers and farmers who come in for coffee.

We make our plans to help the soccer team, and the refugee and immigrant families scattered around Albany. We talk and plot and scheme and have coffee.

Ali and I love one another, we are brothers, and today was a big day for us. I was reminded today that there are many people in the world who do not hate.

Today, I gave Ali a check for $2,500 – this was my own money – to buy a used van for the soccer team. This was an important and liberating moment for us and for the work we are doing with the refugee and immigrant children and their families. He is on the way to purchase it right now.

We faced something of an emergency. And we are very happy with the way it is turning out.

It was no longer possible for Ali to use the big white vans he was using to bring the soccer team to tournaments and practice, to go on retreats and outings and visits to the Mansion.

Nor could we continue our weekend grocery runs for the refugee families in need of food or clothing. We try to find a different family every Sunday that needs food.

RISSE, the refugee and Immigrant support group withdrew permission to use the vans unless all of the funds for these activities came directly to them for disbursement, and went to their board for approval.

That doesn’t work for me. We need the freedom to move quickly and be sure of where the funds are being used and when. As many of you know, I am averse to bureaucracy. And I want every donor to know – and to see – where every penny goes when it is donated.

I am committed to transparency, that’s why I take so many photographs.

I am not comfortable funneling it all into a bureaucracy, where I have no control over it.

If you send me a donation,  I can promise you it will go precisely where you want it to go, and right away. And I have kept that pledge. it is my contract with the Army Of Good.

So I made a big decision, too go out on my own and do this work with the help of Ali and and some other people who wish to help the refugees.

I will continue to support RISSE in any way that is possible, and I would encourage all of you to do the same. But I am heading off on my own, starting out own support group with our own wheels.

It’s a little scary, as bold decisions usually are, but I’ve been waiting all my life to be free to do things like this, and I’m not going to give that away.

We don’t need to ask anyone for permission, or wait for money to be approved and disbursed. We are close to the refugee families now, and have a good understanding of what they need. Some of those needs can’t wait.

Ali and I are eager to work together to continue this work, and we are both excited to have our own transportation available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Ali has been looking for a van for weeks, and he found a 2006 Odyssey, inspected, with new tires and in good shape.

To get this van, we didn’t have time to launch a fund-raising drive, and I am happy to donate the funds myself.

We had a great time whooping and laughing in our “office,” Ali and I don’t look like anyone else there, we do stand out. Everyone has been courteous and welcoming to us.

We were very happy today,  nodding and smiling at the people in the next booths. Ali and I just click, we see the world in the same way.

This feels like a huge step for me in a year of huge steps.

In recent months, I have not only meet and gotten to know the soccer team players, but also a number of families from Myanmar, Thailand, the Congo, Syria, Columbia, Tanzania and the Sudan. So many of them have come here with so little, and face deep and cruel cuts in support and subsidies from the federal government. I feel close to them, and admiring of their struggles for a better life.

I find that many have urgent needs that are not being met by anyone.

So, and with Ali’s great and invaluable support, I am working to highlight those needs and trying to meet some of them. I am touched at how well we work together.

Ali has helped me to see and understand the refugee and immigrant controversy in America in a very intimate and personal way. I could not have done that by myself. And I could not have found a better human to work with, he is devoted to these children and their families, he thinks of them every day, they trust him completely, and thus open their lives and  hearts to me. This is just what I dreamed of doing when I started this work.

My short term agenda:

I am organizing a tutoring program for middle school refugee children struggling with language problems. I have found a wonderful tutor named Suzanne, we are bringing six children to her home next week, we are setting up a tutoring schedule for all six of them. I have  raised more than $1,000 for this work.

Tuesday, I am meeting a mother from the Sudan, she has two children, her husband has been crippled by spinal disease, and she has just been evicted by her landlord because she was $75 short of the rent. Her hot water was cut off for weeks. She is moving to a new apartment. She needs groceries now, she is paying her new rent.

The soccer team, the Bedlam Farm Warriors, are playing in a tournament next week, they need transportation to their games. Some need shoes and clothes. Some need tutoring.

We are also identifying refugee children with special needs – bringing a microphone to a young singer, a digital camera to a young artist, a dress for a young  student who only has pants.

We are planning retreats for the team, a visit to the Great Escape and a boat ride.

I have arranged for uniforms for a girl’s refugee basketball team forming in Albany. The Army of Good has just donated $23,000 worth of school and other supplies to RISSE through the RISSE Amazon Wish List program. I hope the Wish List continues, it was a staggering success.

I will be concentrating on raising funds for my new and quite unofficial, slightly rogue group.

We are funding all of these activities ourselves, from  the support we get is from the Army Of Good. This is a liberating step for me and for Ali as well. I will be able to help people in new and creative ways.

Your support is welcome: The Gus Fund, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or me via Paypal, [email protected].

Ali is purchasing the van right now, i hope to have a photo up later tonight.