Last night, I put up a blog post about Kevin Reiss – a teacher at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany –  and his wife Mary, who need to raise $8,000 to pay a funeral home so they can bury their son Milan.

This sweet soul died last week at the age of 26 after years of struggling with Muscular Dystrophy.

We raised a thousand dollars overnight.

The family was told they couldn’t bury Milan without paying for the funeral in advance, a common practice in American funeral homes. Apparently, people often don’t pay.

The family posted a gofundme page last weekend and had raised about $2,725 as of yesterday.

I asked for help, linking to the family’s gofundme page and also offered the option of sending contributions to me, to avoid the gofundme fee and also to get a signed postcard of me and Red, a photograph taken shortly before his death.

As you know, I feel as if we have adopted this very special and caring school – they have many poor children from Albany and nearly 40 refugee children from all over the world. Their mission is helping the vulnerable and the needy and teaching them well.

We have helped fun an art and music program, a computer and science lab, a choir and dance group, school supplies for the needy and the teachers.

Red, who was adored at Bishop Maginn,  died about the same time Milan did, and I thought this could be a meaningful way to help his father, a much-loved athletic coach, and teacher and honor Red, who belonged to so many more people than me. Next week, Kevin starts in his new position as Dean Of Discipline and head of Sports Management.

Bishop Maginn is my community, and perhaps yours as well.

This is what we do in our community – we reach out to one another, a counterpoint to the anger and cruelty seizing so much of our country and our leaders. This is our way of fighting back and restoring empathy and compassion to our public life in a positive way.

I posted this plea late last night on my blog and woke up this morning to find the gofundme was at $4,110, and I had raised another $500 on my Paypal page. Some checks are on the way to me, I believe.

So we’re halfway there. I had trouble sleeping thinking of this honest,  hard-working family burdened with heavy medical debt and forced to raise thousands of dollars to bury their son, who, by all accounts, was an extraordinarily loving and loved young man.

I couldn’t help but think about how I would feel standing their shoes.

This morning, I’m going to Albany to meet with Kevin and Mary and talk about how we can get them the money they need to bury Milan. I’ll write about the visit when I get back. I’m excited to be bringing them a check.

There are two days to do it if you wish to help: the GoFundMe page, which is rising.

And contributions can be sent to me, one of two ways: Via Paypal, [email protected], or by check, Jon Katz, Milan Burial Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

Donations in any amount are welcome – $5 donations are sacred – and I will make sure the money gets directly to the family – every penny. No fees, middlemen or administrative costs.

I never know how far we will go when I ask for help – $4,000 is a lot of money – but I have faith in this plea. Thank you for considering it.