This morning when we put up the Amazon Bishop Gibbons Warmth Winter Wish List, there were 31 items listed. As I write this at 7:50 p.m., Wednesday, October 12, three items remain:

A windproof and waterproof women’s ski jacket and parka for the coming harsh winter. The price is  $51.07.

The second is a toiletry travel kit, personal care wellness, and hygiene essentials. This costs $28.99. Sue is asking for 10 of these kits for arriving refugees, six have been sold, and four are remaining.

The third item is men’s ultra-soft thermal underwear (many refugee jobs require outdoor work and foot travel); Sue asks for three, and only one is left. The cost is $23.99.

Note: All Wish List items should automatically be sent to Bishop Gibbons and Sue Silverstein by default. Check the shopping address at checkout. It should read Bishop Gibbons. If you need it, the address is Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street, Schenectady, N.Y., 12304.

As we speak, Sue and the other teachers are setting up a special classroom for people who need these items to come and collect them. It’s already getting cold; Sue picked the right time as usual.

Thanks to people who donated to me, preferring to avoid Amazon or online shopping. Every penny has already gone to purchase some of these items. Any more that comes in, should the list be sold out, will buy additional items as Sue finds she needs them beyond the Wish List.

The refugees arriving now often have nothing but clothes on their backs and a single suitcase.

If you wish to support this work, Wish List, and beyond, you can send a donation to me Via Paypal, [email protected] or through Venmo, Jon-Katz@Jon-Katz-13. Or by check to Jon Katz, the  Refugee Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. And thank you.

Bishop Gibbons is a diverse school in every way. Some students and their families need help; some don’t.

The ones we are helping are in great need of help this winter, refugees, inner-city kids, and all kids. When I think of the work we do, I can’t help but think of St. Therese Of Lisieux, a long-time inspiration for the Army of Good work as I see it. We have found a way for anyone who wants to help others tdo it, regardless of who they are or how much money they have.

She devoted her life to small acts of great kindness.

St Therese cherished the idea of Small Ways of loving and helping people. Like us, she couldn’t begin to heal all of the wounded and support all of the needy. So she helped in little ways as best she could.” I am the little brush,” she loved to say when people asked about her.

“So you see, Mother,” she wrote to her beloved Mother Superior as she lay ill and dying, “what a very little soul I am. I can only offer very little things to God. Those little sacrifices bring great peace of soul, but I often let the chance of making them slip by.”

Compared to most of us, she let the chance for very few little sacrifices slip by.

We also offer little things in the scheme of things; we are little brushes, and it would be wonderful to do more, but we paint a big and loving picture, keep love alive in so many hearts, including our own,  and offer comfort to many souls.

We work in little ways to great affect, and in so doing, I believe we are brightening our world.

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Sue Silverstein took the above photo. It shows two teachers, LaReina Touraine and Tricia White, bringing some of the school’s new refugee students to Sue Silverstein’s art class to work on Paper Mache art projects. I think I did portraits of almost every one of them while they were at Bishop Maginn. It is so good to see them smiling.