A huge bulletin board in the hallway of the Mansion is filled with the photos and images of animals sent there by the Army Of Good and saved. The residents come and stop by this board every day and see in the photos memories of their own lives, their own pets, the animals they loved to see and live with.
These images mean a lot and brighten many days, and I thank you. I hope some of you can writing to Peggie and Connie and Jean and Alice and Madeline and Brother Peter and Jane and the others. They love your letters, and you can write them c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
Also, a reminder that July Fourth is the next holiday approaching and it is one the Mansion residents celebrate, they even have a fireworks display behind their building. Cards and notebooks and gift bags would be much appreciated for the Fourth, it will be celebrated there, and you messages and gifts have turned holidays from darkness to light.
The Mansion address is 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
Tuesday at 1 p.m., I’ve been invited to teach a story-telling workshop at the Mansion. I am eager to do this. I love hearing the stories of the residents, they are the stories of life, and many have been forgotten. Sylvie traveled the world as a diplomat’s daughter. Connie teamed up with a friend to start a fiber arts business. Madeline’s father was killed by her brother to stop his awful abuse of the family, and she was sent to an orphanage.
My workshop is about an hour, but it is the launch of a month long story telling initiative that I have launched with Julie Smith, the Mansion Activities Director. I’m going to talk about elemental story structure and ask the residents to pick a story from their lives, and then write them down.
We will have a reading and awards ceremony at the end of the month in the Great Room at the edge of the Mansion building.
This will be a challenge to my teaching and my idea of teaching. I talked to some of the residents today, they are eager for direction and passionate about telling their stories, it is a new way for me to teach and to think about stories, and I hope to share or somehow publish their stories at the end of the month.
I will tell the about simple story structure, and then ask them to consider a story from their own lives that helps explain who they are. Stories are so essential for people living at the edge of life, they often look back and review their lives, but it is difficult to find anyone who will listen or who wants to hear
I hope to excite them with the idea that people will listen. When I came to visit today with Red, Sylvie was sitting on the coach reading letters and responding “I’m writing to Luann Sanders,” she told me, and I knew the name write away. Luanne is a reader of the blog and a great friend of The Mansion. She has written many letters, sent many gifts, even driven to Cambridge to visit the residents.
Sylvie says she is visiting soon and wanted to write her. The Mansion letters much appreciate your letters, you can write them c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. I so look forward to hearing the stories of the Mansion residents. I mean to tell them that their stories matter.
I was in the Battenkill Bookshop signing books today when a woman came in touched my should and asked if I was Jon Katz. I admitted my guilt, and she smiled and said she was a reader of the blog and wanted to know how to join the Army Of Good, if there was an application form or ID.
I said we were a grass-roots and truly populist movement, there was no list or admission requirements, anyone was in who wished to be in and donations and contributions were entirely voluntary. The idea, I said, was many people sending small amounts of money to do a lot of good.
This, I repeated, was our way of feeling good and grounded, and doing good, rather than arguing about what good is.
This is already a good week for the Army of Good, one of its warriors for good send a check for $1,200 to pay for a three day retreat at the Pompanuck Farm Institute for the members of the RISSE soccer team. (Maria and I will be helping with meals, she will lead a hike into the state forest, I will read scary stories by the campfire.)
And Summer the stray cat will be spayed and given her shots and get to come inside.
Several others have volunteered to help purchase a projector and screen for the RISSE refugee and immigration support center in Albany to be used in their adult and child classrooms. Maria and I are buying new jerseys for the soccer team, the team will be named the “Bedlam Farm Warriors.”
Today, another voluntary opportunity to do good. The Mansion is a Medicaid Assisted Care Facility, which is well and lovingly run, but which does not have much – any – extra money for frills or luxuries, and their funding and reimbursement is difficult and is apt only to get worse.
The residents live in an old Victorian mansion near the center of town, it sits on seven beautiful acres. But the residents have trouble using the beautiful grounds in summer and good weather, many of them have trouble walking on uneven ground or manipulating walkers and wheel chairs there.
We would love to help them get outside and enjoy the beautiful grounds.
Several residents and members of the staff have told me they would love to purchase six or seven inexpensive plastic lawn chairs and one or two folding tables to bring outside to the residents could have picnics and parties and other activities outside on nice days.
The chairs and table would be placed right near where Red is standing, close to the rear, where they are building a new ramp.
I heartily endorse this project, one of the staffers and i were looking online and they have found several possibilities, one or two at a nearby Wal-Mart, one at a local hardware store.
The estimate is about $500, possibly a little less, depending on delivery, materials etc.
The table needs to be portable and plastic as well, for mobility and safety. Nothing that could cause splinters or is too heavy to move.
If you choose to help with this project, you can contribute in one of two ways. You can send a check to The Picnic Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or to my Paypal account, Friends and Family. ID [email protected].
For bookkeeping purposes, please mark any contributions to either PICNIC Fund, The Mansion. Thanks. I don’t wish to stress anyone financially, please do not feel any pressure to contribute, and if you do, do not be uncomfortable with small amounts. They add up quickly, and this Army seems to be growing.
And do not be uncomfortable sending nothing. I remind you that you that the most important thing anyone sends the residents are letters and postcards and photographs, they are much loved, shared and read, over and over again.
They lift spirits and keep the feeling of human connection alive. The most valuable donations any of us give are are love and attention. In the Mansion, the residents no longer feel forgotten or left behind, and that is thanks to you.
If you wish to write them, here is a list of residents who would like to hear from you: Bruce, Allan, Sylvie, Jean, John Z, Tim, Ben, John R., Alanna, Peggie, Ellen, Joan, Brenda, Connie, Alice, Madeline, Mary, Barbara, William, Brother Peter, Diane, Helen, Jane, Dottie, Anita, Richard, Gerry, Charlotte, Arthur, George.
You can write the residents at this address: The Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
Some of the residents are not able to respond to your letters, but many do. I see the dog-eared stacks of letters by their beds and I see and feel their excitement when someone writes to them. July Fourth, the next major holiday, is approaching and that might be a time to think of them. They will have a party honoring the nation’s birthday.
Thanks. I am beyond proud at the good we have done, the arguments and anger of others are a gift to us and many more.
Thanks to the new air conditioner many of you helped to purchase, Connie was able to return to work yesterday and made a cap for hospital patients in dialysis treatment. She said the first night the Honeywell was on, she nearly froze to death, but then figured out how to lower the controls, and since them, she has been comfortable and able to work.
The Mansion is not air conditioned, and as the temperature rose, Connie, who has breathing and heart problems, had to stop her knitting. She looked pale and was exhausted, she had to struggle for the right amount of oxygen to breathe comfortably. The air conditioner was installed on Friday, and she is surrounded again by baskets of yarn.
She has a lot of plans. It was wonderful to see Connie so energetic, she told Red not to listen to me, but to rest, and she told Maria to keep me in line, which is not really a problem for her. Connie and I love to joke with each other, she has a quick smile and a rich sense of humor.
She wasted no time returning to her knitting, which she loves. We talked about Mother’s Day at the Mansion, and there was a celebration there. I didn’t think to help that celebration, I wasn’t sure if would have been welcome, but it would have been, I think.
There are so many mothers there.
It was so great to see her knitting again, she was struggling to till those warm days, and tomorrow and the next few days will be in the 80’s, she will need every bit of that Honeywell portable conditioner, which also works as a humidifier. Connie’s room is on the warm side of the Mansion, the sun is on it almost all day.
I am giving Red much rest, I know he will do whatever is asked of him, but I have been persuaded not to rush things, it will take weeks, even a month or so, for him to return to normal and with his full energy. I have been appointed Protector Of Red’s Energy, and he is still weak and tired.
But I needed to let the people at the Mansion see him, however briefly, they were very concerned about him.
Red was so happy to see Connie, he rushed down the hallway to her room and ran right up to her, she scolded him to rest and take it easy, we only stayed for a couple of minutes, and then we left. I kept him out of the activity room today, I need to be strong about resting him.
I am so proud to be a part of Connie’s saved summer. In so many ways, it was such a small thing to do, in so many ways, it was a big thing to do. I am happy to be associated with people who would care enough about this worthy woman to want to help her in this way. I appreciate your faith in what I write.
Thanks, this was the best money ever spent. I am pleased to be able to show you what you have done in photos.
I wanted to cry seeing her sitting there with her knitting needles, firing away. And thanks again for the wonderful yarn you have sent her, and the beautiful cards and letters that continue to come to her. You can write Connie c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
You can write the other residents who wish to receive your letters at the same address. Their first names are Bruce, Allan, Sylvie, Jean, John Z, Tim, Ben, John R., Alanna, Peggie, Ellen, Joan, Brenda, Connie, Alice, Madeline, Mary, Barbara, William, Brother Peter, Diane, Helen, Jane, Dottie, Anita, Richard, Gerry Charlotte, Arthur, and George.
(Peggie is a whiz at jigsaw puzzles, Jane is working hard to study and learn art.)
As soon as Red’s ultrasound test was finished, I knew we all had to get over to the Mansion and bring Connie’s air conditioner and let the residents see that Red was all right, some of them were getting upset. The air conditioner was heavy, we got it into the car and drover to the Mansion.
I could see that Connie was a bit nervous, her room was about to get turned upside down again. It was humid and warm in her room, a good day for her new Honeywell Floor Air Conditioner, purchased with your donations, and thank you. The first thing Connie did was to show us some of the beautiful and wonderful letters she has been receiving.
She reads each one carefully and keeps them right next to her chair. Connie has been unable to work in the warmer weather, she is, as she put it, “sidelined.” When the new Honeywell, set to 72 degrees, she will be back at work knitting shortly. The baskets of beautiful yarn sent to her are arrayed in a ring all around her chair.
Maria and I are going back to her room in a day or so to help her get organized and clear out some of the things she doesn’t need or want and has little room for. It is, life in a room. The painting that Marilyn Brooks donated to her room is hanging on the wall on the right, Connie loves it.
Kevin, the operations manager at the Mansion, hooked up the Honeywell (it is the top rated portable air conditioner by Consumer Reports) and was extremely sensitive and thoughtful about dealing with her and asking her where she wanted things to go. He is a competent and warm-hearted man.
I was delighted that Red does not have cancer, but this great act of generosity from so many people touched my heart and brought great hope to my soul. The Army of Good is gaining in strength and purpose. We do not argue about what is good, we simply do good. There is nothing much for the left or the right to say.
The nastier the outside world gets, the stronger we are, the more good we are doing.
The new printer is up and running, I’ll put up a photo in a day or so. This is one of the best things I have been associated with, and I hope I have conveyed in words the bigness of the deed. Connie cannot work in the heat, she does not have enough oxygen or energy.
She will be able to work now, and resume the knitting of her beautiful mittens, caps, scarves and sweaters. If you wish, you can write her c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. She treasures every one of your letters.
You can write the other residents of the Mansion as well: Bruce, Allan, Sylvie, Jean, John Z, Tim, Ben, John R, Alanna, Peggie, Reggie, Ellen, Joan, Brenda, Connie, Alice, Madeline, Mary, Barbara, William, Brother Peter, Diane, Helen, Jane, Dottie, Anita, Richard, Gerry, Charlotte, Arthur, George.
