I had a lovely birthday on Thursday, it ended with the sweetest and most unexpected not. Yesterday I mentioned I announced that I was going to seek between $4,000 and $5,000 to buy 12 Ipads for Bishop Maginn’s faculty.

These tablets have become essential tools for teachers all over the country, and I found a great price for a 9.7 inch Ipad with WI-FI and lots of memory – $328 each. I read through a hundred reviews and this was by far the most highly recommended for the price and for its features and utilities in classrooms.

I was expecting to spark a long Wish List campaign but I got an e-mail around 7 p.m., it was from Sue, a long-time blog reader and a member of the Army Of Good.

“Jon, I would like to honor you and Red,” the message read, “and the work you have done together, by gifting $4,000 for the purchase of the 13 Ipads. It feels fitting to me to honor the grace, dignity, and compassion of the two of you, particularly on your birthday and at the end of Red’s time here I have no doubt he will go on to do some sort of special work elsewhere in the future, I am so grateful for your sharing of your experiences with Red over the years and now with the school, Blessings, Sue…”

I can’t say I deserve an honor like that, but I know that Red does, and I am grateful.

So a wonderful gift from Sue, yet another and the last gift from Red, who gave and gave and gave all of his life. It seemed a miracle to me, to get this gift, perhaps Red is an angel who came to guide my life for a time until I could figure things out.

I will always feel him by side and sitting at my feet when I write. I will always talk to him about my ideas.

Red is the most generous spirit I have known in my life, and there will be a big hole in my heart, and in the hearts of others, when he dies.

Also much gratitude, he even inspired a wonderfully generous spirit at the end of his life to send a lot of money so that the Bishop Maginn Teachers will have the tools they need to help these children.

Principal Mike Tolan tells me this morning that we will need 16 Ipads, not 12, I told him I was certain I can raise the additional $1,500 through the blog, and in honor of Red. I already have an additional $300 pledge, and I didn’t even ask for it. Red is like that.

If you wish to contribute, you can do so via Paypal, [email protected], or by check, Jon Katz, Red’s Gift, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. I’m hoping to have some Red postcards printed up and I’ll be sure to send one to people who contribute it, with a note of thanks. Make sure I get your mailing address.

I expected this Ipad project – so important to the Bishop Maginn teachers – to take a while, but thanks to Sue, and to Red, it didn’t even take a whole day.

Thank you, and thanks once more to Red. He is filled with grace.