Painting By Sue Silverstein, donated to the Mansion Memory Care Center.

I am very happy to announce that the Bishop Maginn  High School Amazon Wish List is sold out. A project I thought would take the whole summer has been accomplished in just under two weeks.

Blessings to you, this means so much to so many people, including me, and Maria.

Thank you, Army Of Good, you are very, very, good. You have enriched and supported the lives of scores of children, refugees and others, and given them the tools to learn and grow, academically and creatively.

You represent the best traits of this country, generosity and compassion. This, to me, is what patriotism is really about not selfishness, hatred and greed.

You have infused energy, hope and love into a school and the lives of young people who have suffered enough, they are in desperate need of all of those things we have been purchasing so they can acclimate and prosper in America.

In the last two months we have purchased 22 computers, 22 microscopes,  nearly 30 backpacks, a room full of music stands, pens, pencils, markers,  art supplies, and in the past week, two storerooms full of school supplies for the Fall term. Also sold werre 40 Amazon Gift Cards, 20 for $20, 20 for $25. They will be a permanent offering on the school’s wish lists.

A score of blog readers have sent cellphones, clothes, expensive paints, even stethoscopes for Issachar and Asher’s mother, who is studying to be a nurse.

Today, a member of the Army of Good sent the school a donation of $300, which the school is using to rent a bus to come to Bedlam Farm for the day in two weeks. Thanks, Mindy.

Because of you, there is a new music program (with choir director and accompanist, both volunteers), a computer room, a music room, a science room.

That is a hell of a lot of support. I can’t tell you how appreciated it is.

In September, when more than half of the Bishop Maginn students come to school with no school supplies, every child will be given a backpack, a compass, and the pen and paper and notebooks they needed, not to mention laptop computers and microscopes.

For the first time, these children will learn how to  use a computer, have working microscopes and a first-line choir to join, a place to sing. I predict this choir will be famous all over the region in a year, a message of hope and faith and tolerance for the school.

For the first time in years, everyone will have the supplies they need to take notes and sketch and file folders for their work.

We are also setting up a small fund to buy winter shoes for the refugee children still wearing sandals in the winter and T-shirts in the cold.

The support for this school has been nothing short of miraculous, and I am humbled and grateful for it. The list had 25 things on it a week ago, some of them for multiple items, and people chipped away at it, one or two items at a time. I get up in the morning and buy something in the list every day, I can’t imagine a better way to begin my days.

I see other people did the same.

The Wish List is empty for now, and I have recommended leaving it that way for a few days so the Army Of Good can take a much deserved rest, and the school staff can regroup. We might need to support the choir by buying a new or used keyboard, Judi, the new choir director is trying to get one donated for free.

The staff is thrilled to have some of the tools they now have to teach these students what they desperately want and need to learn. They are all so excited by the school year.

I went to Bishop Maginn today and was surprised to get a stack of beautiful paintings that Sue Silverstein (and soon, the art students) have offered to grace the walls of the new Mansion Memory Care facility, here in Cambridge, N.Y. Blue and Asher and Paw Lway are also doing paintings for the new facility walls.

How beautiful that all of this comes together.

We’ve got to figure out how to get this beautiful, cheerful and color art framed and up on the walls of the Army Of Good Activity Center and the rooms of the new residents. That was a surprise, and a generous one. Maria thinks we can buy cheap metal frames online. One thing at a time.

Please take a moment, as I will, to feel good about what you have done,  you are transforming the lives of these beautiful children and supporting a school that brings real meaning to faith and empathy.

They really do support the needy and the vulnerable, just like Jesus Christ said.

I am not a Christian, but I see that true faith lives in there. Just look at Sue’s wonderful painting, one of a dozen she has sent for the Mansion. Good breeds good, good supports good, good will always triumph in the end.

Every day, the Army Of Good restores my faith in this wonderful country, and gives me hope.