Today is Liberation Day for Ali’s soccer team. Today, their name changes from the Bedlam Farm Warriors of RISSE to the Albany Warriors. I am relieved not to have my name on the uniforms, it always made me nervous. This week, we traded in the gray van we’ve been using to transport the soccer team to games and other activities.

We traded even for a van big enough to transport the soccer team, now to  20 refugee children. Before this, we were dependent on the vans that belonged to RISSE, the refugee immigrant and support center in Albany, and there were many scheduling and other issues that limited our ability to schedule the team and  to to many of the places we wanted to go.

Our new (used) van is now operational, thanks to $800 in repairs.

Now, the sky’s the limit – tutoring classes, boat rides, summer pools, visits to the Mansion and the Powell House Center and Bedlam Farm, movies and birthday celebrations. To be on the team, you have to first and foremost get good grades and treat one another with love and dignity. Ali, the coach, emphasizes hard work and decency.

So this is Liberation Day for the Albany Warriors, we have our own transportation, In honor of this day, I ordered 20 gray caps (above) for the team with the new team  name. They’ll be here in a little over a week. This is a big day for me, for Ali, and hopefully for the members of the soccer team.

Ali created this time and has been supporting it for five or six years. I am proud to be the sponsor of the team, along with the Army Of Good. I’m very excited about the possibilities to work with these extraodinary kids.

If you wish to support the team, you can send a donation to The Gus Fund, c/o Jon Katz, Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected].