Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children
Jeffrey Fetzko, ACSW, LSW, CFRE
Vol. 6, No. 8, April 17, 2008
The Executive Director's News is published every two weeks, and is specifically written for the employees, board of trustees and friends of the Somerset Home. This issue and past issues are available on our web site at http://www.somersethome.org/main/pages/employee_newsletter.htm.
New Clinicians Get Residents Talking
Sara Klejmont and David Weiss are now working with our TLP residents in individual and group therapy sessions, helping them work through many issues on the way to independence. Sara holds LSW and CSSW certifications and also works as a counselor and school social worker for the Lambertville Educational Services Commission. She received both her bachelors and masters degrees from Monmouth University, and has experience with anger management, coping skills, self-esteem building and social skills.
David Weiss is a school psychologist with the Newark Public Schools, where he provides counseling, evaluation and assessment of students and consultations with teachers and parents. He earned a B.A. from Drew University, a M.A. from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Psy.D. from Yeshiva University.
Erin Lutskus, LPC, is working with our Brahma House residents. She has a B.A. from the University of Delaware and an M.A. in counseling psychology from Georgian Court. Erin is a member of the regional response unit of UMDNJ and also does in-home therapy for Caring Family Community Services in Ocean and Monmouth counties.
Somerset Home is happy to have Sara, David and Erin on our staff.
New Jersey Alliance for Children Youth and Families (NJACYF)
It was a very gratifying experience to speak at the NJACYF annual conference, in front of 450 staff members representing New Jersey residential programs. Every year, the Alliance Board of Directors recognizes a wide variety of achievements of both staff and youth nominated from the 41 agencies who are members of the Alliance.
One of the best jobs and one that fell to me as President of the Alliance was handing out twenty-two, $1,000 scholarship checks for college-bound youth. I was most pleased to see that eight of our transitional living youth from Passages, Whitney House and My Place were recipients of these $1,000 awards. Whitney House resident, Aszreanna (pictured above) was one of the Alliance scholarship recipients and is attending Raritan Valley College.
Passages Upgrades
We have finished Phase I of the concrete work at Passages including the basement entrances, chimneys and rear yard sidewalk. We will have the mason return later this Spring to finish construction of the handicapped ramp and porches.
The cabinets and sinks for the bathrooms have been delivered! We are hopeful that the tile work will be completed this week and the first five bathrooms will be completed and operational next week.
Shelter from the Storm 3
Last week I had the opportunity to speak in front of an assembly at Hillsborough High School about homelessness in Somerset County and New Jersey. I was impressed with this particular group of young people who were not only interested in learning about homelessness but doing something to help. For the past two years, this group of students has raised funds for New Orleans, Darfur and now Somerset Home. Nearly 100 youth have agreed to volunteer for local agencies who work with homelessness.
The "Shelter from the Storm 3" concert was preceded by a fun fair and a basket auction. This day-long fund raising event raised approximately $12,000 which will be granted to four agencies in Somerset County who work with homelessness. Our Street Outreach team was on hand with a display and brochures to tell them about Somerset Home during the fun fair and I had the pleasure of attending the concert which was a showcase for local Hillsborough High School rock bands. All of these young people had a strong sense of community service and volunteered their talents for this cause.
The young people who were involved in the assembly, fun fair and concert are truly an inspiration and we are very proud to be considered as recipients of the funds raised from this event. Many of the youth associated with this event and the Interact Club will be volunteering for our Run for Runaways in November. We look forward to working with them!
Volunteer Recognition
Somerset Home will host a volunteer recognition event at Whitney House on April 22, 2008 at 5:30 PM. Please encourage all of our volunteers to attend.
As always, thank you all for your continued hard work on behalf of our youth.
