(Photo by Paw Lway Shee)

This morning, I plunged into refugee and creative support – I call it Art Rescue – for the embattled and broke art class at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany, New York, a haven and refugee for refugees and minority children from the poorest parts of their city.

The art room is the creative and spiritual center of Bishop Maginn, the last Catholic High School in the city, and one that has devoted itself to helping the neediest and most vulnerable children in the city, especially the refugee kids.

Sue Silverstein has a bunch of different titles at the school but her heart, I think, is in art and music.

She is the keeper of the flame there.

Art class, she says, “is sort of the place to be here at Maginn. Students come in the morning before class, at lunchtime, and often stay late into the afternoon. There is so much talent, there are so few supplies. I buy most of the supplies the kids use, or beg for donations, or ask my family for supplies for holidays. Coupons are my friend! To get help with art supplies would be an answered prayer. I hate to say no to kids or tell them I’m out of supplies.”

I’ve been to the school, I’ve seen the passion Sue and her students have for creativity and art, it is something they need as well as cherish in their complex lives.

This message of Sue’s got to me last night, so I asked Sue for her ideas for the Amazon Wish List I suggested they put up. And I got up early.

The school is working on it. But I couldn’t wait. When I got the list, I ordered every single thing on it for about $400. I used $100 from the refugee fund and the rest was my own money.

I just couldn’t handle Sue telling those kids there are no supplies, and I think it’s time she stopped buying art supplies herself. I know what teachers make in private (or public) schools. She can’t afford it.

The school has more than 35 refugee children, I know most of them have no money at all, I know the school doesn’t turn anyone away, this is why there is no money for music or art supplies (we are also going to help the school get a choir going.)

I believe in doing what I ask other people to do, I have spent more of my own money than is sane on the work we are doing. It feels good. I wish I had more.

This morning, two people asked if they could buy the art work of student Paw Lway Shee, one of her paintings is above, I posted the other in a piece last night.  I think it’s been sold to a nice person named Judy.

I understand Paw Lway Shee’s family is quite poor, she can use the money. I’m suggesting $50 for each painting. Anyone interested can e-mail me at [email protected]. The photo at the top of this post is also for sale. I’m acting as the art agent.

I am not conventionally religious and few of the students at Bishop Maginn are Catholics, or Christians. The school doesn’t care. There is no proselytizing there.

I hope we can help some of these kids with their tuition, they love the school and dread the thought of having to leave it. The school’s tuition is flexible, it ranges from $3,000 to the neediest to $7,000 for those who can pay. Nobody is pushed out over money, this is one reason the school has no money.

In contrast, the Albany Academy tuition is nearly quadruple that. These young people at Bishop Maginn have a lot of obstacles to overcome. America isn’t quite as equal as it likes to think, especially for refugee children.

The other issue, the elephant in the room, is that Catholic institutions are all – even the blameless ones – caught up in the roiling scandals and social changes affecting the faith. It’s not an easy time to be a Catholic private school in an impoverished urban neighborhood.

The school if fighting hard to do good.

I am not a Christian, but I have always been affected by the teachings of the man I call the true Christ. He called upon his followers to reach out to the needy and the vulnerable. This is the spirit of Bishop Maginn, this is where this spirit  really lives and can be seen.

In a few days, there will be a Bishop Maginn Amazon Wish List – the fourth I have sparked. If you wish, that will be a simple way to help the refugee kids and this worthy school.

You can also donate to the school directly: Bishop Maginn High School, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202. Bishop Maginn is a non-profit institution, all donations are tax-deductible. 

If you are a small donor, or prefer to deal with me directly, you can send donations via Paypal, [email protected] or by check Jon Katz, Bishop Maginn Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

Today I’m having to an art supplies store in Vermont to get more supplies to the art class. I’m going to bring them to the school on Wednesday when I go there to meet two young Pakistani Brothers and see if we can help them financially to stay in the school.

Kathy Sosa, the teacher who first recommended Eh K Pru Shee Wah to me and the Albany Academy, has spoken with two girls in her class, they want to go to Bishop Maginn. We’re setting up a meeting.

Things are happening, I am thrilled to be working with these good and welcoming and grateful people. It’s the place for me. Talking to Principal Mike Tolan, I felt he was a brother, and I never had much use for principals, or they for me.

First off, I hope we can get enough art supplies to Sue so that she never has to buy any. This morning, I bought heavy body acrylic paint; acid free cold press watercolor paper; liquid watercolor paints; canvas panels;  Royal Brush paint brushes; paint brush sets for acrylic oil; acrylic paint sets; professional artist quality acid free canvases; watercolor paper bulk cold press paper; plus markers and crayons.

If you wish, you can send art supplies directly to Sue Silverstein at Bishop Maginn, 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202.

Here is the list of needed art supplies Sue sent me last night. I bought about 20 of them, but they can also use any of these things at any time. If you are sending art supply gifts from Amazon, the school address is 75 Park Avenue, Albany, N.Y., 12202.