My heart breaks for the refugees, the last few weeks have been so hard for them.
I spoke with Sue Silverstein this morning and she says she believes things many ease up for these families towards the end of June. But not yet.
She said we have done more than enough, but if we can keep our Price Chopper Gift Card Program going for another month, that would get these families through the worst of it. Once they can find work, they will quickly return to self-sufficiency.
The need varies a bit from week to week, but we are feeding between 40 and 50 families.
About 20 of these families are listed as “critical,” says Sue, the support is urgent. The others vary, many are people who have never asked for help before. Some got sick from the virus, almost all are recovering, most are being freed from quarantine.
Their lives were completely upended.
(You can see and purchase the Price Chopper Gift Cards in any amount. Because the school is closed and gift cards can’t be sent to post office boxes, please send the gift cards to me, Jon Katz, 2502 State Route 22, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
I understand that some people don’t care to shop online, I will be happy to buy the cards for you. You can send a contribution to me, Jon Katz, via Paypal, [email protected], or me at the above address or at P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816)
None of these families have been able to return to their former jobs yet or find new work.
I am determined to see them through the worst of this, as are so many of you. I can’t thank you enough, neither can they. “Without the work the Army Of Good has been doing, we wouldn’t be able to feed these families,” Sue told me this morning.
When militias and armies and thugs came to bomb and murder them and kill their family members and destroy their homes, they all had the same dream: get to America. Their children could be safe there and have better lives, they could work hard and become citizens.
But America changed in the last few years.
Most of the ones here could never get in today, the government is suddenly hostile to them, their children are harassed and tormented in public schools, the subsidies and aid once given them have mostly been slashed or eliminated.
Things were tough enough, and then the coronavirus struck.
Today, they are in crisis, laid off from their jobs, sick (many worked in cleaning jobs in hospitals), fighting for their benefits and food stamps, struggling to feed their families.
They still consider themselves fortunate to be here, and they still believe in the American dream.
I believe we are keeping that dream alive.
These families and students know they are very lucky to be in the Bishop Maginn High School Family, the school takes responsibility for them and for their children. They don’t just talk religion at Bishop Maginn, they live it.
As the child of a refugee family, I am very proud of the Army Of Good and our successful effort to feed the Bishop Maginn refugee families in Albany until things open up and they can get healthy and back on their feet.
It is my fervent wish in a month to be able to say to you, thanks we got them through it. We are very close. You can see and buy the gift cards here.
This is a message that Sue sent to me this morning. Sue is my good friend, and stellar human being, she is also the art and theology teacher at Bishop Maginn. She distributes the gift cards to needy families.
I wanted all of you to see it: