Time for me to do some fund-raising for me, alas.

I’ve worked  hard at getting more comfortable fund-raising for myself, as well as the refugees and the Mansion residents.  Unfortunately, money is at the center of most of what I do.

This work takes a great deal of my time, and my blog and photography come with  substantial maintenance costs. It cost nearly $1,000 to set up our new podcasts, which are free, and more than $4,000 to re-design the blog so it is more mobile and user-friendly. Photographic equipment is reliably expensive.

I pay a monthly fee to have the blog delivered free to people’s in boxes.

I don’t get paid for the many hours of work that go into tasks for the Army Of Good, but that doesn’t keep a single monthly bill away. I’m not complaining, just spelling it out. I love my life.

As I’ve moved away from commercial publishing (and it has moved away from me),  and royalty payments and the big contracts have faded away, your voluntary payments and one-time contributions have become more and more  important when it comes to paying my bills and permitting me to do this work.

I think we have never done more, or done it better, or worked in a more practical and efficient way. Small, focused acts of great kindness. We stay small and fill some of the holes in the lives of the vulnerably and the needy. We have changed many lives and opened doors and windows for others.

Our work has never been more meaningful to us, to the people we help. These are cruel times in some ways.

The donations and voluntary payments support my work with the Army Of Good, they support the time and labor and gasoline and computer repairs it takes to travel and interview and photograph people, they make my blog and photography and computer and office supplies possible. Thank you.

My blog and the photographs are free, you can download them, print them, use them as screen savers. If you can, please consider paying me what you can for my work. I feel I have never been more relevant or fulfilled.

If you can’t or don’t wish to make a donation or payment, the blog remains free to you and anyone else. No one is keeping score.

You can cancel any subscription easily and at any time. You can use any major credit card.

Only a tiny fraction of my readers actually make voluntary payments or one-time donations, as my bookkeeper is fond of pointing out. There is room to grow, I say.

Your support makes this work possible, period. It also  challenges me to earn a loving and get paid for my time and labor.

If you are so inclined, please continue supporting this work, it is more necessary and relevant than ever.  And we are making a difference. In my work, I seek to work with online wish lists if possible, no middle-men and you get to see what you are paying for. I am transparent in my work, you have the right to see the person you are helping.

Because many of the things I need in this work cannot be sold on Amazon or online, I ask for contributions to my Mansion/Refugee Fund, all contributions are audited monthly by a bookkeeper, and then, a New-York based CPA.

You can support my work in several different ways.

One is via Paypal, [email protected]

A second is online via Voluntary Payments, you can subscribe monthly for $5, $10 or $75 using any major credit card or Paypal. I should say no financial information of any kind is stored on my blog or server, two different security companies monitor my blog continuously.

There is no money her for people to steal.

You can cancel your subscription at any time. You control your own account.

You can also make a one-time payment in any amount online right here on the blog, or via Paypal, [email protected] or my Post Office Box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

I appreciate it. You are what makes this work possible. I thank you.