Christina Fraticelli, student at Raritan Valley Community College held a fundraising bake sale for IHN/SC at the college recently. She created an amazing spread of delectable treats, including cookies, chocolate lollipops, chocolate pretzels and her specialty … gourmet cupcakes. She introduced our agency to the students by including a display focusing on the majority of our clients … children and passed out agency brochures and program descriptions. The event was a tremendous success, all from the caring efforts of a single individual. Thank you so much Christina!
Posted by WebAdmin-AM on May 14, 2012
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In this issue:
- Holiday Smiles
- Community Donations
- The Value Of Education
- Winter Intern Shares Experiences
- Your Support Makes A Literal World Of Difference
- Wish List
Download the March 2012 Newsletter
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On Valentine’s Day our intern from Bennington College, Hannah Lipper pulled the winning ticket. Alan Grant of Bridgewater was the lucky winner of $3,325.
Thank you to all who participated in our raffle.
Posted by WebAdmin RAR on February 23, 2012
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Clients in all IHN/SC programs, Emergency Shelter, Phase 2 Transitional Support & Phase 3 Permanent Supportive Housing, are participating in two seminar series, one on nutrition and the other on money management. The “Journey to Financial Security: Managing Income & Expenses” is in its third year. Funded by Money Management International, a nonprofit full-service counseling organization, our parents cover creating a budget, tracking & documenting monthly expenses, managing cash flow, comparison shopping, credit and insurance. Taught by Maura Attardi, from Money Management Int., parents are provided with worksheets and forms to assist them in developing the skill sets that lead to financial security. Multiple sessions are offered throughout the year, covering the different topics.
Our newest venture is a workshop series on nutrition taught by Tia Hagins, RD, in monthly seminars held over a six month period. Our first session was held on January 31 and additional ones are scheduled through July. Parents are learning functions of different foods, classes of nutrients and dietary guidelines governing selection of foods and portion control. Tia is tailoring the program to address special health needs of a number of the clients and utilizing a roundtable interactive format. Again, as with our financial training seminars, clients are provided with worksheets and information that they can keep, going forward. This workshop series is made possible by a grant from the Somerset County United Way Women’s Initiative.
IHN/SC values the role of educating clients and is committed to making this as user friendly and enjoyable as possible. Seminars are held at an Emergency Shelter host congregation. Transportation, when needed is provided by staff, dinner is provided as a joint effort between the agency and shelter volunteers and baby-sitting is covered by the host volunteers and Immaculata High School IHN volunteers. The result is an evening of practical learning taught by experts in the respective fields and ensuring that our parents can attend, enjoy good food, fellowship and learn free of the distractions of supervising the children. The end result of our seminar series is providing skill sets for our parents to utilize in ensuring health and financial security.
Nutrition Education Seminars Underway
We have reached the halfway mark in our series of seminars sponsored by the Somerset County United Way Women’s Initiative. Led by Tia Hagins, a Registered Dietician, parents in all of our programs are being introduced to the latest dietary information. The seminars are held monthly at one of the host congregations for our Emergency Shelter families. The event is very “parent friendly”; dinner is provided along with baby-sitting services donated by students in Immaculata High School’s IHN Club. The occasion becomes a bit of a reunion as clients who have left our Emergency Shelter Program and are now in Sunrise House or in their own apartments have an opportunity to get together.
Following dinner, the children have playtime supervised by the Immaculata students, permitting parents to hear all of the information that is offered by Tia. Each seminar has had a topic. The first one was Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the next one focused on healthy weight and portion control demonstrating the link between diet and a number of health problems and the most recent one focused on nutrition of infants and toddlers. The setting is informal, clients are able to dialogue with Tia and she has been excellent at providing follow up information for specific interests and in response to questions.
Our program services are based in a firm belief in empowerment through education and we describe our delivery system as a community response to homelessness. Attending one of our nutrition seminars is an opportunity to see both in action
Posted by WebAdmin RAR on February 22, 2012
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Christmas, 2011 was another example of a community response to homelessness. Each year, we are so gratified by the generosity of individuals, groups and businesses when our families are able to celebrate the holiday season despite their financial status. No matter what the economy at large indicates, the same wonderful people reach out in the Fall, already concerned that Santa will come to our children and that their parents will be remembered as well. For many of our parents, their “IHN Christmas” is the first traditional one that they have ever experienced with decorations, gifts under a Christmas tree and a special meal.
This is a sincere thank you to the hundreds of individuals who come forward to be a part of our clients’ holidays. It also seems appropriate to acknowledge two group sources of holiday gifts who have been long time partners with our agency. The first, “Hearts of Watchung” under the direction of Cindy Homer introduced their Adopt A Family Program to us 12 years ago. Their efforts begin each October and every December, as our staff collects the gifts for our families, we are awestruck and humbled by the incredible caring reflected in their end result. More smiles from children and their parents and not a few tears from parents have greeted their presents. The sensitivity of this group is incredible; wrapping paper accompanies children’s gifts so that the parent(s) can be a part of giving their child(ren) Christmas presents. IHN/SC volunteers and staff wrap the parents’ gifts so that they can be surprised on Christmas morning as well.
The second group is made up of wonderful employees from the Rustoleum Corporation in Somerset. Two years ago, they introduced themselves to our agency, asking what they could do to help. Their first effort was to play the part of the Easter bunny for our children. For 2 Easters, going on a third this year, baskets that the rabbit himself impress the official rabbit himself appear at our offices in time for Easter morning. The number of delighted children continues to grow…in 2 Easters, 44 children have received baskets from Rustoleum employees. When they dropped off the first set of baskets, they offered to come and repaint our day center which reflects the wear and tear of our large family of children. They returned, paint, brushes and tarps in hand and did a magnificent job and gave us all a needed lift. Christmas 2011 was a second year of Rustoleum employees becoming the “Frosty Friends” of our families. Decorations & gifts appear and again, as with the Hearts of Watchung donors, the Rustoleum employees are impressive with their sensitivity to our clients. The “Frosty Friends” get and wrap a present for each of our children to give to their parent on Christmas morning.
As you view the pictures from Christmas 2011, amazing individuals in the community are the reason for the smiles.
Posted by WebAdmin RAR on January 31, 2012
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In this issue:
- IHN Executive Director Honored
- Welcome To Their World
- Have A Heart Raffle
- Wish List
Download the November 2011 Newsletter
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