10 April

Seeking Help: Buying Toys For The Children Of The Mansion Aides

by Jon Katz

Many of the Mansion aides work long hours these days, and a lot of them have small children at home since the schools all closed. Some are single mothers. Some are home sick (not with the virus)  I’d like to launch a fund-raising campaign to buy toys and games for their children (and a couple of grandchildren).

I’ve asked Kassi Garmley, the Mansion Director, to put up a list of the children’s favorite toys or games. She loves the idea.

These kids may have weeks or months of isolation ahead of them, possibly all the way to September.

Once the list is up, I’d like to order the toys and games – like laptops, these are much in demand now and it may take a week or so to get them.

I have about $2,500 in the Mansion/Refugee account, but I want to hang onto as much of it as I can, I have a feeling we are going to need it over the next few months, and I want to be prepared for emergencies.

During the coronavirus Pandemic, I’m not making any purchases until and unless I have the donations first. I want to think longer term.

If people can’t help, then I will certainly respect that, and put off the purchases or cancel them. I’d like to be able to buy the children of the aides some learning books and games – spelling and math, some leggo sets, which most of them love, and perhaps a computer game or two.

I’ll have a list in a day or two. If you would like to help – I think these poor kids are going bonkers home alone with no other kids to play with, and their mothers are frantic about working long hours and caring for their young sons and daughters – that would be great.

So I’d like to help the aides and their children if it works out.  They are working so hard and keeping the Mansion together during a difficult time.

(For reasons familiar to many, an Amazon Wish List doesn’t work for now. Most of the items kids want are no longer available on Amazon (millions of kids are at home also)  and their delivery times are getting longer – these kids can’t wait until May or June to get their stuff. There are also delivery problems. I’m not comfortable sending these items directly to the Mansion, the dangers to the residents and the aides are dire.

So I have some work to do to find what they need.

I don’t sanitize UPS and FedEx packages (or Amazon boxes) but I will do that for the residents, just to make sure. I need to get the packages so I can sanitize them thoroughly, leave them out overnight and rub them with disinfectant. The virus is rampaging through elder  care facilities, and I will be absolutely scrupulous about what I bring in there.)

If you want to contribute, you can do so via Paypal, [email protected], or by check, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

If you can’t help right now, I completely understand.

My motto for this new chapter is we do the best we can for as long as we can. But I don’t want to make any arrogant assumptions. (I like learning to be a manager, I’m getting good at it.)

So far, we are doing well. Thanks for everything you have done.

4 Comments

  1. I was wondering why don’t you add the wish list to Amazon so we can purchase from there.
    You can have them sent directly to the Mansion like you have in the past for other wish lists.

    1. Amazon is not functioning well right now, many toys are not available and the delivery times are very long, as far away as late May and June. I will be spending a lot of time tracking down requested toys from other sources. Beyond that, there are very many delivery problems now, especially on items going to assisted care facilities., and I believe the best way to proceed is for me to receive them and sanitize them thoroughly and keep them outside or in the barn for a day or two. Not something I do for myself, but I should do it for the Mansion residents and the aides. I can’t deliver the packages to every aide’s home, they will have to go to the Mansion, they agree with my approach. I have to abide by their guidelines as well as mine, and am happy to do so. The dangers to the residents are dire.

  2. John, thank you for answering my question.
    You have so much experience in helping so many people you know best. I look forward to helping with this list of toys and food certificates once I get the check from Trump. Please keep up the GREAT Job you do for so many people you are an Angel

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