Sue Silverstein, my friend, and the Theology Teacher at Bishop Maginn High School was worried about one of her students, she hadn’t heard from her in days, and that was not like her.

Sue knows her students well, Sue’s antenna are remarkable.

She made contact, and the student – I know her – finally broke down after saying nothing was wrong.

As Sue sensed, something was very wrong.

The student said her family was going through a terrible time since the coronavirus and the closing of the school. Before that, the state’s Department of Social Services, the agency that tries to help refugees and immigrants, had been helping her family with food stamps and one-half of their rent.

Her mother lost her job and her father is back in their home country, trying to get to America.

That no longer seems possible.

Then the student lost the two jobs she was working.

Suddenly, and without explanation, the social services agency canceled their food stamps and also stopped paying for half of their rent.

“They took everything away,” she told Sue in an e-mail. “We are calling desperately to try to find out why, but no one will answer. I applied for unemployment but there is no callback, the website is so broken.”

They have no money for food, rent, heat or electric bills. During the Pandemic, their utilities will not be shut off, but in the Fall, they will owe a lot of money. And the grace period will end.

She asked Sue – and me – to not use her name or her family’s name if we helped, they would be ashamed to be so desperate. I wrote a check for $500.

She thought of contacting me, she said, but her family was afraid of reaching out. I’m sure she knew Sue would tell me. The blog is well-read in that world. So I’m not using her name or identifying her.

I like to send the family more,  I know them well. They are honest, hard-working, brave, and patriotic people, they also have great pride and dread asking for help.

They want to be tax-paying, contributing citizens, and they were well on their way before this crisis was upon them.

I know well that we can not take over all of their needs, or “bail them out,” as some might say. We can help them get over this awful bump, and give them some time.

I’d like to send them some more money, they are working hard to get themselves out of this hole, and I know they will. They just need some help in holding things together. Don’t believe the hype about the stimulus checks – the people who need them the most don’t seem to be getting any.

I’m afraid this is one situation I can’t photograph, but I can tell you this student has been through hell and back in her life and is reaching out once again to help her family.

I wish I were at liberty to tell her story, she is a remarkable young woman of great strength and character. She will be a great asset to our country.

I’m thinking of sending them another one or two thousand dollars over the next few weeks, I think that’s all we can really do. If you can and wish to help, you can contribute via Paypal, [email protected] or by check, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Please mark the contribution SOS.

This family got caught in a perfect storm, they are in a bad way. Thanks for considering this.