Bludgeoned by three people close to me – Maria, Tania Woodward of the Mansion Staff, and Sue Silverstein from Bishop Maginn High School – I rushed to the Dollar General store up the road instead of a full-price pharmacy or supermarket. I bought $125 worth of shampoo, hair conditioners, and body wash.

I confess to being a Dollar Store snob, now an ex-Dollar Store snob.

I have strong ideas about the things I buy the Mansion residents; I don’t look for the cheapest; I look for the best. I owe them to not demean or diminish them by accepting or buying inferior products, clothes, torn or broken gifts,  or toiletries.

I see this as one of the most important Christmas gifts anyone could receive, the tools to keep themselves healthy and clean.

At the Mansion, residents are responsible for providing their shampoo, etc. But many of them can’t afford to, especially at Christmas time, when they are buying gifts for one another, the aides, and their families.

Today, the Mansion residents ran out of body wash, shampoo, and body conditioner, and I got an SOS from Tania. Maria came with me to the Dollar General store to get me to open up, help me carry what I was buying,  and to stop being a snob.

To my surprise, the dollar store had the best brand name shampoos and conditioners for about 1/4 or 1/3 of the price I would usually have to pay. I left the store with four bags stuffed full of large-sized body wash, shampoo, and hair conditioners, large size. I’m on board whenever possible. I do need more.

I’ve learned never to defy Maria, Sue, or Tania, a Mansion aide and friend.

They were right. This is the first wave of what I need to do. I got ten containers of each – shampoo, body wash, and hair conditioner. 30 all together.

The Mansion pleaded for as many of these items as I could afford to get.

I’ve done that and am off to a good start (the first donations have begun to come in, thanks, I still need more.) This is a dignity and pride issue; the residents must have the materials to clean and groom themselves. All of the money I get on this will go to these items; the staff can store the ones we don’t need right now.

If the donations exceed the needs or expectations, I’ll put them into the Mansion Fund to fatten it up.

I’m still asking for more help to make sure everyone at the Mansion has what they need. I want to stockpile these things so they don’t ever run out.

You can help via Paypal, [email protected], and Venmo Jon-Katz-13. By check, Jon Katz, Mansion Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.YU., 12816. I’m making a second run tomorrow morning; I will need to go to Walgreens for some of these items.

There is usually $1,500 to $2000 in the Mansion fund; due to our work with the Afghan refugees and the Mansion and Bishop Maginn High School students, the fund was down to $200 today, I worried that I couldn’t get these supplies. But I can.

I’m not letting it fall any farther. Things will slow down a bit now in terms of need; the Christmas needs have been met – except for this one at the Mansion. Everybody has blankets, food, books, silverware, and dishes.

I will get this new work  done and thank you for your support. This is what Christmas is all about, I believe.