Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children
Jeffrey Fetzko, ACSW, LSW, CFRE
Vol. 7, No. 19, September 17, 2009
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.
Passages Gets a Bigger Backyard
We have worked cooperatively with the developer of the office building behind Passages to improve the border of our properties including: new grading, a new board on board privacy fence, improved drainage, irrigation and landscaping. This site work will greatly improve the backyard at Passages where we will create a picnic area for residents. We are very pleased with the progress which can be seen in the rough grading photo above.
The World Our Kids Inherit...
The exponential expansion of information and technology creates unique challenges for our young people. Watch this video!
H1N1 Flu Update - One shot of swine flu vaccine may be enough
Australian and U.S. researchers say that one dose of the swine flu vaccine looks strong enough to protect adults -- and can begin protection within 10 days of the shot. The dose question has an important ramification: It means people will have to line up for influenza vaccinations twice this year instead of three times -- once for the regular winter flu shot and a second time to be inoculated against swine flu, what doctors call the 2009 H1N1 strain.
The winter flu vaccine is widely available now, and U.S. health authorities urged people to get it out of the way now since it is recommended that there be at least a week in between shots. The H1N1 flu shots are starting to become available now.
Capital Construction Projects
We are pleased to announce a $95,000 grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which will fund solar energy panels at Brahma House. Construction will only take about a week and will be scheduled before the end of 2009. The installation of these photovoltaic panels at Brahma House will reduce our PSE&G energy bill by more than $10,000 annually, reducing commercial energy consumption by 75%, helping conserve our planet's resources and reduce our carbon footprint. We plan to install panels on both Passages and Whitney House next year.
In other capital news, the boys at Passages are enjoying new carpeting in their residence. All of the carpeting on the first and second floor was replaced and the house never looked better.
As always, thank you all for your continued hard work on behalf of our youth.
