(Fate and Sarah at the Mansion)

Fate continues her therapy dog training this morning with another test. We’re going to Albany together four my weekly visit to the Bishop Maginn High School to check out the new computer lab, science lab and music room (all made possible by the Army Of Good.)

Some of the Karen students refugees from the Myanmar massacres are dancing in the new music room this morning, I’d love to get a video of it.

This will test Fate’s adaptability and I want to see the students in the Silverstein Art Brigade’s response to her. Younger people seem to adore Fate, they connect quite easily with one another.

But then, so do older people, as I’m learning.

An exciting new experiment: one of the first-ever Amazon Bishop Maginn Teachers Wish Lists. We asked each teacher in the school to list the three things they most wanted for the new school year, one month away.

We seem to be sparking a teacher on teacher rescue movement.

The list offers a fascinating insight into the minds of the teachers and the needs of a  contemporary American classroom.

Mostly, the 23 items on the list were things the teachers might have had to pay for themselves, the school – a Catholic school in a poor urban neighborhood run by an institution wracked with controversy and scandal – had little money to spare, they don’t turn refugee children away for money.

When the wishlist went up yesterday, there were 23 items on it. There are 12 this morning. I noticed teachers from all over the country are answering this call. It does lift the heart, people are good, given the chance.

Thanks to the Army Of Good and teachers everywhere for answering this call. The new and returning students to the school in September – many are refugee children – will be amazed at the changes to the school over the summer.

There is a computer lab now, there wasn’t a single teaching laptop in the school before, there is a science room with a new microscope at every desk. There wasn’t a single microscope working in the school in June. There are new basketballs in the gym.

The new music room is ready to receive the new choir, the new music stands will hold the music, and the supplies closet is loaded with backpacks and other school supplies for the children who don’t have those things.

Please check out the Teacher’s Wish List, another step forward and valuable tool in our innovative fund-raising. I love the idea that the teachers get to choose what they most want and need, and the rest of us get to choose what we want to support.

This is, I think, the future of fund-raisin, and we are right out in front. Thank you. You can see the new wish list here.

Thanks for supporting these teachers, they are angels, underpaid, overworked, dedicated. I love the Silverstein Art Brigade, I’m bringing some books.

We’ll also see how grounded and adaptable Fate is.