I shifted gears last week in my doing good work.
The crisis has eased somewhat for most of the refugees in the Bishop Maginn High School community and also for the Mansion residents, none of them has contracted the virus so far.
I turned my focus towards finding individual people in trouble this week – the Mansion aides and residents and the refugee students and families – whose lives were upended and who are in immediate need.
This requires some sensitivity, persistence and my reporting skills, which still are embedded in my head.
I asked a half dozen aides and supervisors at the Mansion for help, and also asked Sue Silverstein to sniff around the refugee community. She keeps careful track of people in need.
I found about six people who need some help. I should mention that in this work, I can’t depend on people to come forward and ask for assistance.
They rarely do. Some are ashamed, some afraid, some so used to having nothing they don’t even notice it. Some just can’t imagine anyone out in the world will help them, they have handled things by themselves for years and years. Some fear calling attention to themselves.
Some are proud, too embarrassed or ashamed to ask for help. It often takes some cajoling to get them to accept assistance from the outside. Sue and I are getting good at that.
Two families of refugees were sick and broke and hungry, one Mansion resident has no clothes for warm weather or summer, and three Mansion aides have food and support issues that are urgent.
One Mansion aide – I’ll call her Sandy, which is not her real name – is struggling right now. Her husband just underwent serious surgery and he has been denied workmen’s comp benefits, and won’t be able to work for months.
They are out of money. Food is a problem.
The other aides are worried about her, I went to the Mansion today and gave her $200 in Price Copper gift cards. I gave it to a supervisor to give to her, that might be easier for her. I’ll be checking in with her weekly to see what she needs.
She will need some support for a while.
Another aide is also having serious food insecurity issues, she is single with two children and is not able to feed them well. We’ve helped her before. She never asks for anything, but she needs almost everything.
She always says no once or twice, but if I persist, she accepts the help. I always want to protect people’s pride, but no is not always no.
I brought her $200 in food gift cards and a check for $200. She is stable for now. She always says I’ve done enough. But I haven’t.
I also bought her a gift certificate to Caroll’s Trading Post, so she can get her self and her kids some nice clean clothes.
A Mansion resident – I won’t use her name – has no warm weather or light clothes of any kind. She came to the Mansion with few possessions and the Army Of Good got her winter jackets, boots, light sweaters, hats, and socks. She is suffering in the heat.
Today I went to Carroll’s Trading Post and got her three bags of clean, comfortable, light shorts and tops with elastic waists. The clothes cost about $75.
To find these people I have to dig.
Most never have asked for help. Despite the move to re-open, there are still a lot of victims of this Pandemic and the resultant economic chaos.
I know I need to reach out to these people to get them to ask for help, I’m happy to do it. But it does take time and thought. Otherwise, they fall by the wayside.
If you wish to support this work, you are welcome to help. You can do so by contributing via Paypal, [email protected], or by check, Jon Katz, Mansion Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
And thanks.