A few weeks ago, the Mansion asked me for help in boosting the morale of the residents, now in lockdown for the eighth month.

The Mansion hopes to be able to permit a limited number of visitors in a few weeks.

It’s been an exhausting and dispiriting time for the aides and the residents, they came up with the idea of dressing up in different costumes and surprising the residents.

We bought about $500 worth of costumes, masks, graphics, and postings, and the plan is really working. The residents love seeing the aides in costume, and it has boosted the spirits of the aides as well.

They are truly heroic this year. Two of the aides took some photos and sent them to me. I am delighted to share them with you:

Batman was a big hit in Memory Care.

Captain America is one of my favorites. I also bought some Wonder Woman costumes, but I don’t have a photograph of any of them yet.

We are planning other surprises – art supplies, more costumes, laser light shows, and I hope to resume our lunches from Jean’s Place when I can build up the Mansion fund a bit.

If you wish to help in the moral campaign, you can contribute via Paypal, [email protected], or by check, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

The art supplies the Army Of Good purchased on the Mansion’s recent Amazon Wish Lists were a great success, thank you. So are the new easy-to-breathe masks.

I’m so proud of what we did this year, including the purchase of a $3,000 disinfectant fogging machine that has helped keep the Mansion free of even a single case of Covoid-19. What a gift you all are.