We want to help get some food to the Bishop Maginn refugee students and their families now that the school has closed for at least one week and possibly more.

The school officials have agreed on a plan for the Army Of Good to help.

(Next week, we’ll address how to help the children access Wi-Fi so they can take their classes online at home or with other families.)

But first, we want to deal with the issue of making sure the students and their families have enough to eat. Many of Bishop Maginn’s parents work at hotels or office buildings in cleaning jobs.

They work day and night and have little cash on hand. If they lose any of their salaries, their ability to buy food will be in jeopardy; it already is in some cases.

We want to purchase gift cards for the Price Chopper Supermarket Chain to be sent to me so I can give them to the teachers to provide to their students and student families (the school will not be getting mail, I will.  Jon Katz, 2502 State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Details below.)

Some of the refugee parents are already getting laid off, and their kids – the students at Bishop Maginn – will need some supervised care, a way to learn,  and nourishing food. This is a vulnerable community, already under pressure.

The coronavirus is especially threatening for them, as it is for so many others.

For the first week or so, we will package some of the food we sent them two weeks ago – oatmeal cups, macaroni and cheese, granola bars, apple juice –  into care bags, and distribute them at pre-arranged pick-up spots near the school.

No student or teacher (or me) can visit or enter the school next week.

The gift certificates will all be from Price Chopper, the food chain with the most stores in the neighborhoods where these families live in Albany.

The plan is simple. You can buy a gift certificate in these amounts – $25, $50, $75, $100, or larger – by going to this Price Chopper website page.

1. You can choose a design from a variety of colorful cards.  Any of the choices will work.

2. Then select the amount of the gift certificate you want to pay.

3. Then choose the address where it will go. We are asking that you send the cards to me at this address: Jon Katz, 2502 State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y. 12816.

(The reason for sending the certificates to me at this address (they won’t ship to a P.O. Box) is because the school will be closed and may not be receiving mail for some time.)

They need to be sent to me, not the school.

4. I will get the certificates and bring them to Sue Silverstein in Albany. She will distribute them to the appropriate families so they can buy food beyond next week.

Nobody knows precisely how long the closings will last, but it is believed they won’t last longer than two or three weeks. School officials are working with local, state, and federal health officials to work out a plan that will keep the children and their families safe.

There is a lot of talking online about “Community Spread,” the dangers of the virus being transmitted within communities as a result of people moving about outside. The other hot phrase is “social distancing.”  That means staying away from people, and if you can’t, keeping a distance of three to six feet.

This is a special challenge for kids with no parents at home all day, and no teachers to guide them.

I am not involved in health decisions, but to me, the very definition of “Community Spread” is having scores of children out on the streets moving about with no one to supervise them, no place to go, and no teachers to help them.

Let’s make sure they are fed first.

I leave those safety concerns to the professionals, not me. Bishop Maginn will do better than telling the kids to get lost and stay inside for several weeks.

This is a time of great need for these families.

Already pressed for money, and the loss of any meaningful federal support,  they face a loss of pay and the prospect of their children losing ground on their education and having no safe place to be for the next few weeks.

Some work as cleaners in hospitals, they may be at some risk.

We will have a plan for helping get some remote education, but first, we want to make sure they are fed. Fortunately, we sent a lot of food to the school just in the nick of time.

I hope you can help. The gift certificates can be seen and purchased here.