Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children
Jeffrey Fetzko, ACSW, LSW, CFRE
Vol. 2, No. 25, December 2, 2004
The executive director news is published specifically for the employees of the Somerset Home. This issue and past issues of this newsletter are available on our web site at http://www.somersethome.org/main/pages/employee_newsletter.htm.
Full-time YC/RA staff benefit from "retention bonus"
Beginning in 2005, all full-time RA/SRA and YC/SYC staff will benefit from a $1,000 per year retention bonus payable in $500 increments. The bonus will be based on your date of hire or date of transition to full-time employment. The board of trustees and senior management are happy to provide this extra compensation as a special benefit in recognition of your important work with our youth.
Happy Thanksgiving!
For those of you who attended the Thanksgiving dinner you know what a fabulous job the volunteers from National Starch did for us. We would like to thank them once again for their hard work.
Program Funding News
We have just received $1,000 from the American Legion toward holiday gift expenses and $7,500 from Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical: $5,000 to be used to fund a new Pathways financial literacy program and $2,500 toward Shelter educational field trips.
FSA Election
If you have not done so yet please make your FSA election for next year. This can save you hundreds of dollars in out of pocket expenses such as deductibles or other unreimbursed health expenses. FSA can also be used for dependent care expenses. Please contact Gary Kreutzer in the business office for more information.
The Holiday Season...a very special time of year...
The holiday continues here at Somerset Home. It is an important time of the year for in-kind donations. Many people will call to drop off items for our holiday celebrations. When they do, please be sure to have them fill out the in-kind donation log book. It is important to capture the information on our donors so that we can keep them informed and thank them for their contributions.
Please remember to thank the donor personally as many times as possible while they are here. We really appreciate their efforts on our behalf and without them we could not provide for the kids the way we do. Also, the holiday wish list is now available and we should encourage those who call wishing to help to go to the web site to get the list. Just tell them to click on the gift box on the somersethome.org web site.
Holiday Wish List
http://www.somersethome.org/main/pdf/Holiday_Wish_List_04.pdf
My Place Update
My Place I passed its health inspection this week. During the last two weeks the Hyde and Watson Foundation donated $20,000, James and Diane Burke Foundation has contributed $5,000, the King Foundation contributed $5,000, the Stella Van Houten Foundation contributed $4,000, the Arnold Schwartz Foundation contributed $2,000 and the Union Foundation donated $5,000 and the Hancouski Foundation contributed $2,000 all toward developing My Place I and My Place II.
In addition, since MPII
is designated for females, and as a female
focused charity, the Warren Township ZONTA chapter has pledged $25,000
toward the development of MPII at their meeting this week.
Much to our surprise and delight, a neighbor who was working on a driveway paving project unearthed a storm drain which will save us considerable site work expense as we plan the drainage for the parking area.
The balance of the furniture was delivered and we are still hoping for a January 1, 2005 opening! Stay tuned for more on My Place I and My Place II.
Awards
We are very happy to report that our board president Tom Divilio has won the Johnson and Johnson Volunteer Leadership Award. Tom has provided us with strong and steady leadership since becoming board president and has been invaluable in providing guidance on the My Place I and II projects. The award also comes with a very nice $5,000 contribution to the Somerset Home. Congratulations Tom!
Pro Bono Partnership has won the Garden State Coalition Community Partnership Award. Pro Bono Partnership through its partners has provided Somerset Home with hundreds of hours of legal work over the past few years. We are very pleased to help bring attention to their great work by nominating them for this award. The award will be presented at the Garden State Coalition annual breakfast on Friday, December 3, 2004 in Trenton.
All Aboard for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Trip!
On December 10th we will be taking all the kids to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York followed by a short walk to see the tree in Rockefeller Plaza and then off to "fresh Tex-Mex" cuisine at Chevy's Times Square.
Please make sure you are there "on time". The bus driver knows exactly what time he has to leave to get us to the show on time and as you know the traffic in midtown Manhattan is brutal this time of year.
Please contact Elizabeth Remeika, SYS Recreation Coordinator for details.
Holiday Party Time
On Wednesday, December 22nd, Santa is scheduled to arrive at the Somerset Youth Shelter at 5:30 PM and Passages at 6:30 PM. After weeks of shopping and gift wrapping the annual parties for the kids are expected to be as much fun as ever.
Following the kids parties is the staff party is scheduled for 7:30 PM at Cafe Graziella on Route 206 South in Hillsborough (across from Charlie Browns). See you all there!
Run for Runaways Slide Show
Many thanks to John Costanzo for putting together this montage from the run for runaways special event. Also available at http://www.runforrunaways.com.
As always, thank you all for your continued hard work on behalf of our youth.
