The art table in Sue Silverstein’s Art Class is the epicenter of creativity, safety, friendship and hope for the refugee students at Bishop Maginn High School. All day, these gifted and eager young people gather at the table to talk to each other, feel accepted, and do the creative work that seems so often to be an outlet for their fear and pain and loss.

Sue Silverstein keeps the room open all summer so that these students, many of whom have no other place to go, can come to together to feel supported and to support one another. It is a beautiful and inspiring thing to see. When she shows up for work, there are refugee students sitting on the high school steps, waiting for her.

Yesterday, I put this work by Asher, a refugee from Pakistan, up for sale. Asher knows what it means to be free and not to be free, his mother, who has sacrificed so much for them, is their hero and inspiration. Asher is painting this work in honor of her.

A blog reader named Faye Ferris wrote me to tell me she wanted the photo and was happy to pay the $25 fee I asked for it.

“Thanks so much, Jon,” she wrote. “It is another  amazing piece of art, heart and soul – and I’m truly honored to have it. I’ll Paypal the funds to you in a few moments. But before I close, I want to tell you how significant I believe it is that you are giving these three kids a belief in their art, in themselves. You are giving them each a way of  mattering to the world that they wouldn’t have if it weren’t for you sharing their work on your blog. I have a feeling what you are doing will have more impact on them thru their entire lives than you can imagine. (Not to mention the happiness it brings to those who adopt their work)  🙂  So, many thanks!”

I appreciated this message very much, it brought me close to tears.  Faye wanted nothing but to love this art and hang it in her home. She is not alone.

Honestly, this isn’t false modesty, but the person who deserves recognition for this is Sue Silverstein, who has been sheltering and loving and teaching and encouraging these very special people long before I arrived.

But I wanted to share it because Faye put her finger on why it’s important. We are giving these young people – they have suffered greatly – a way of mattering in a world that has treated them cruelty or with indifference. Even here, in their promised land, they are ridiculed, beaten and marginalized.

When we support their school or buy their art, we are saying they matter, giving them a new way to see their new world.

Thanks for supporting this school and this work. Please take a look at the new Bishop Maginn Amazon Wish List, there are new and very inexpensive ways to help these children out and support their school, a refuge and beacon of light for them.