This is a complicated time to ask for support for my blog, but it is also a time when the blog and the related work are more vital than ever and need support.

Over the past few years, we have helped hundreds, if not thousands, of need people get help, clothes, food, computers, school supplies, blankets, and many other things.

There is so much more to do. And more than ever, I want to focus my life on doing good, not arguing or hating. The blog is the perfect vehicle for that.

The blog support is now what keeps the blog going, and the blog and the photographs are expensive to maintain. I write a lot and take a lot of pictures.

In addition, I pay to distribute the blog free to anyone who wants it, and I also pay to restore this service when it falters. It’s $16-25 every time someone fails to get the blog. I’m happy to make it right, the blog is important to a lot of people.

I have no more fat royalty and publishing checks to throw into the fray. It’s all in my writing and the work we are doing together.

I’m not complaining, it’s my responsibility to make sure the people who want to read my blog every day get it, but that and sever and registration and domain and maintenance fees add up to more than $400 a month.

As the Internet changes, the blog and I need to keep it readable, helpful, and valuable. It needs continuous updating and support.

All of my photographs are free, and photography is not inexpensive. Plus, there is caring for the farm and the animals. Those endearing dogs and sheep and donkeys cost money.

I no longer receive royalty or other checks for my books, so I pay my bills from the blog and Social Security. Without the blog support, I cannot do the things we do, Army Of Good and otherwise.

I  wanted to walk into the future, so I have, and I have no regrets. Life without a  regular paycheck is challenging. This is the life I choose and the life I love. I’m doing what I was meant to do, am called to do, and love to do.

With the pandemic easing, our work with the Mansion residents and the refugees has picked up again. The Mansion residents need a lot of support, from snowblowers to flowers to art supplies and pool tables.

We will be called upon to help the Afghan refugees as they settle, the Bishop Maginn refugees move to a new school, and a wave of expected Ukrainian refugees arrive.

In recent weeks alone, we helped raise $10,000 to support a Ukrainian family get out of Poland and to the United States; we are donating $45,000 for tuition aid for the Bishop Maginn refugee students; we raised $7,000, so the Bishop Maginn class can fund a farewell prom in June to their school, which is closing.

We have supported more than 30 groundbreaking Amazon Wish Lists for the elderly, refugee families, and students.

And we have provided clothes, food cards, blankets, laptops, and school equipment for scores of poor refugee families. And shoes and boots and sweaters and puzzles and art tools and stamps and clothes for way too many people to count.

I’m not into tooting my horn – the credit goes to you – but I am morally obliged to make my case for supporting the blog, the engine of all of this – the stories of my life, the excellent work we are doing,  the pictures and words.

The blog is now my full-time work, as I hoped it would be. The blog is a full-time job without the days off. And I love it.

I openly admit that I can’t do it all without help. So thanks to those who have helped, to those who will, and to those who read the blog but are not in a position to support it.

I understand, honestly, and thanks for reading.

I feel somewhat guilty asking for support when so many others are in such dire need, but it’s necessary to do the good we have been doing so faithfully and well.

You can support the blog in several ways. All of them are easy.

One is by subscribing monthly or annually – $5 a month, $10 a month, or $75 a year, or by sending one-time donations through your credit card or via Paypal, [email protected], or Jon-Katz@Jon-Katz-13 on Venmo.

You can also send checks in any amount – small gifts are quite welcome, as are large ones – to Jon Katz, Blog Support or Mansion Support, Or Refugee Fund – to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

Subscriptions can be quickly canceled at any time.

Blog support is as secure as it can be. No financial information of any kind is stored on my blog or server.

I am sorry to ask for money, especially now,  but I also believe in being paid for my work (this took me a while). I am eternally grateful for the support you have given me and our work, and I hope it will continue.

We have some demanding times ahead of us, and I plan to devote my work life to small acts of great kindness for the needy and the vulnerable. Miraculously, an Army of Good people wants to help.

My photographs are, as always, free to post, print or paint. I am working to make them better than ever, another way of saying thanks.

And thanks for whatever you can do. In many ways, I feel as if we are just getting started. You can support my work right here.