Jovanka, the daughter of a wonderful and hard-working Mansion aide, got her Acer laptop delivered on Monday, just in time to bring it to school today.

Hers broke down two weeks ago and her mother was scrambling to fix it. It was just too old and beat up. This is a refugee family and laptops are an essential tool for functioning in American schools, making friends, and acclimating to life in America.

The aide was frantic worrying about how she could get a new laptop for her daughter, not an easy thing on a health care worker’s salary.  In the light of her new computer,

Jovanka sent me this photo late at night to thank me.

I want to thank all of you for the wonderful things you help me do for these children and the refugee children at Bishop Maginn High School. She wants to thank you also.

It meant the world to her, almost literally.

They have the food and clothing they need, some of the toys they would love to have, and the technology they must have to succeed in school and chase after the American dream.

On behalf of Yovanka, thank you, thank you. We are changing and supporting lives.

(You can support the Mansion/Refugee Fund anytime. Via Paypal, [email protected] (ID). Via Venmo, [email protected]. By mail, Jon Katz, Mansion/Refugee Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.