Today, I learned of one Bishop Maginn family of six, all of them are sick, all of whom have tested positive for the Coronavirus, according to Sue Silvertein, an angel who teaches theology and art at Bishop Maginn.

They are quarantined and very much alone, and there are perhaps as many as a half dozen families just like them.  There are others without aid or income.

They need our help, especially the Price Chopper Gift Cards.

They receive no benefits or support and are eating solely because of the Price Chopper Gift Cards we – the Army Of Good – have been sending them. As the food pantries close out of health concerns, Price Chopper delivers groceries to the family’s homes.

This Pandemic hit the Bishop Maginn families hard. Some were laid off, many work in health care facilities as cleaners, and are sick. Sue is tracking between 40 and 50 families who need support.

These are proud and hard-working people who have suffered greatly, it is heartbreaking to see them so alone and overwhelmed. It is heartening to be able to help them.

New research, reported the New York Times today, “shows a rise in food insecurity “without modern precedent.” Among mothers with young children, nearly one-fifth say their children are not getting enough to eat, according to a survey by the Brookings Institution, a rate three times as high as in 2008, during the worst of the Great Recession.

This hunger is very real.

Republicans in Congress are balking at a long-term expansion of food stamps – a core feature of the safety net that helped refugee families and that once enjoyed broad political support, but is now a source of the highly partisan divide.

“When we left school two months ago to teach in the online classroom,” said Sue Silverstein, who distributes the Price Chopper Gift Cards that are keeping the Bishop Maginn families from going hungry, “my thoughts immediately went to the number of families and students in the BMHS family that could easily suffer from food insecurity. I had no real concept that day of just how immense those needs would become. As stay at home policies took effect, more and more members of our family found themselves out of work and without income.”

Sue added that whole families were, and still are, quarantined together. “The Army Of Good has been the largest part of our efforts to keep our families fed and loved. Without this help, we would never have been able to provide continued assistance to at least 50 families.”

The need continues to continue and deepen. If you can and wish to, please consider keeping our Price Chopper Gift Card program alive. You can contribute in any amount. We’ve raised more than $13,000; we will need more to feed these people.

Please send the gift cards to me, the school is closed, and gift cards can’t be sent to post office boxes.

My address is Jon Katz, 2502 State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. If you prefer not to purchase things online, you can send a donation to me, and I will buy the cards for you, you can send your contribution to the address above or to me Jon Katz, Price Cards, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. You can also donate via Paypal, [email protected].

(If your purchase is larger than $300, you may be asked to activate the card easily and via e-mail in a day or so.)

“The gift cards,” wrote Sue Silverstein, “allow families to meet their needs in so many ways. They can be used online for grocery delivery for those who are not able to leave their homes. The cards allow parents to provide healthy meals for their children and maintain their dignity by choosing and preparing their foods. Each of you is a light in a dark time for many.”

Bishop Maginn is an extraordinary place; it speaks to the history and power of religion to do good, even in controversy and confusion.

Most of the refugee students who make up nearly 50 percent of the school’s student population were admitted without being able to pay full or, sometimes, any, tuition.

This is a school with the biggest heart, a refuge for the needy and the vulnerable. We were making enormous progress at this school when this Pandemic hit. All of the snacks and healthy meals we bought are gone.

Sickness and poverty have engulfed this community. We can help and are helping to keep those 50 families in healthy food and safe in their homes. I refuse to let partisan politics prevent us from helping these worthy and needy people.

This is our way of fighting for a better and more humane government.

Please consider the gift card program; you can see and purchase the cards here.