the safe harbor beacon...spring 2015 the safe harbor beacon the newsletter of safe harbor easton at...
TRANSCRIPT
Spring 2015
The Safe Harbor Beacon The Newsletter of Safe Harbor Easton
At Safe Harbor, we are blessed to have such
incredible support from the communities that
we serve. As the new year begins, we hope to
expand our network of friends even further!
With that in mind, we would like to invite you
to participate in a fun, active event to benefit
Safe Harbor!
The Highmark Walk is an annual 5k walk
funded by Highmark Inc. The corporation
sponsors the event so that 100% of the money
donated goes to the nonprofits involved.
The walk will take place on May 30th this year
at DeSales University. Check-in begins at 7:45
am, and the 5K walk starts at 9:00 am. An
alternative 1-mile fun walk begins at 9:15 am.
We hope you will consider forming a team to
participate in the Highmark Walk! This event
is a fun, family-friendly way to raise funding
and awareness for Safe Harbor.
To register or find more information, visit
Safeharboreaston.com. At registration, you
will be given the option to choose Safe Harbor
as the recipient for any donations you raise.
Additionally, anyone who raises $25 or more
will be given a free T-shirt for the walk, while
supplies last!
Highmark Walk For A
Healthy Community
Safe Harbor is excited to announce the return of Freedom
Fridays! Every Friday from 8pm - 10pm, house manager Jeff
Caulfield plans a fun activity for everyone involved. Past
Freedom Fridays have featured spades tournaments, rummy
tournaments, snacks, movies, popcorn, and ice cream! These
events strengthen the ties between residents, day program
participants and staff and reward everyone for making it
through another busy week. If you are interested in
Jen came to Safe Harbor as a case manager in
February of 2012. She started her career at the
domestic violence shelter in Warren County, and
has worked at the Lehigh Valley Drug and Alcohol
Intake Unit and as a counselor at Northampton
County Prison since.
Jen graciously transitioned into the position of
Director of Operations in December. She maintains
many of her case managing responsibilities in
addition to taking on her new role, and has shown
incredible poise and dedication in shouldering her
new responsibilities.
In her transition, Jen is grateful to have a balance
between her case managing and administrative
duties - “opposite sides of the business”, as she calls
them. She believes that the transition has
highlighted the invaluable but different skills of Safe
Harbor’s staff, allowing staff members to work in
roles that showcase their personal strengths.
We thank Jen for her hard work and dedication, and
look forward to Safe Harbor’s bright future under
her direction.
this issue
Highmark Walk P.1 Employment Services P.2
Thank You to the Community P.3 Words of Wisdom P.4
Safe Harbor would like to
introduce Jennifer Collins
as Director of Operations
Freedom Friday at Safe Harbor is back!
Improving the Quality of Life one Person at a
Time
sponsoring a Freedom Friday, please call Safe Harbor at 610.258.5540.
Safe Harbor Staff
Director of Operations
Jennifer Collins
Director of Development
Tyler Rogers
Day Program Case Manager
Jeffrey Poch
Administrative Specialist
Elizabeth Ponstingl
Employment Specialist
Elizabeth Doughty
Lead House Manager
Jeffrey Caulfield
House Managers
Angel Cintron
Ron Bartholomeu
Shawn Ferriera
Board of Directors
President
Richard Adams
Treasurer
Janice Alleman
Secretary
Bernadette Fennimore
Bonnie Winfield
Kelly Prentice
Dr. Brett Feldman
Jeffrey Finegan
Lynn Harrison
Carl Dolder
Bill Schroeher
Chris Thornton
Join us in thanking
Pedro for his
dedication over the
last 25 years!
Pea
rly
Bak
er’s
20
th A
nn
ual
Ch
ili
Co
ok
-off
!
PEARLY BAKER’S of downtown
Easton was generous enough to
make Safe Harbor the beneficiary
of their 20th annual Chili
Cook-Off!
The cook-off featured tantalizing entries
from 20 local restaurants and drew a
crowd that wrapped around the block!
Savory Grille won People's Choice with
their Bacon-Bourbon-Bison
Chili, while Two Rivers Brewing
Company won the Judges' Choice with
their chili made from jalapeno, chipotle
and banana peppers, topped with
chocolate and raisins.
Safe Harbor received all $2,500 collected
from admissions.
We were sad to say goodbye to
Pedro, our house manager of 25
years who retired in December.
Pedro, you are greatly missed by all
of your friends here at Safe Harbor!
Thank you for your years of
unwavering dedication!
Safe Harbor Employment Services
Here at Safe Harbor, we are blessed to have a highly successful
employment services program. Overseen by Employment
Specialist Liz Doughty, the program provides residents and day
programmers with career counseling, resume and cover letter
feedback, online job search assistance, and connections to
employers in our contact network.
The program has made great strides recently, partnering with
local staffing agencies to increase successful placement to 80%.
Not only do clients have a better chance of finding employment
by accessing Safe Harbor's employment services, but a
vanpool-concept system has been established to provide reliable
transportation to and from work sites when public transportation
falls short.
Liz is available for employment services appointments Monday through Friday, 9am to 3pm. You
can contact Liz at [email protected] or at 610.258.5540. Liz is also available at the
Easton Community Drop-In Center (60 North 4th Street), where Safe Harbor holds an employment
services time slot from 9am to noon on Thursdays. Residents and day programmers seeking
employment can utilize the computers at the Drop-In Center and attend the weekly employment
group.
Safe Harbor 2nd Annual Golf Tournament
Safe Harbor’s 2nd Annual Golf
Tournament will be held at Riverview
Country Club on June 15th. For tickets or
more information please visit our website
at safeharboreaston.com
Safe Harbor would not be what it is today without the selflessness of the volunteers that help keep our programs and services operating. The generosity of our community and our volunteers is incredible.
Thank you again, and we look forward to many more years of working together!
For more Information about the shelter please visit our website at Safeharboreaston.com or email us at [email protected]
Phone: 610.258.5540 Fax: 610.258.8144
The Couponing Corner
How to successfully pricematch at
Walmart and Target
You’re probably wondering what it
means to “pricematch.” Pricematching
is where you find an item cheaper at
another store, take that store’s weekly
flier and show it to your cashier at
Walmart or customer service at Target.
Walmart and Target will pricematch
any local competitor (Kmart, local
grocery chains/ pharmacies, as well as
online stores such as bestbuy.com,
sears.com and items sold by amazon on
amazon.com).
There is also a free app you can
download on your phone called “flipp”
which has all of the current weekly store
flyers for your area.
Happy Shopping!
A Safe Harbor Success Story Former Resident becomes Staff Member
THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITY ORGANZATIONS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Papa John’s of Easton has partnered
with Safe Harbor for fundraising events
and stepped in when the shelter is in
need of a last minute meal provider.
THANK YOU from everyone here
at Safe Harbor!
Meal Providers Lunch
Green Pond Methodist
St. Paul’s Stichers
Palmer Moravian Church
Arndt’s Church
First UCC
Faith Lutheran Church
First Presbyterian Church
Fellowship Baptist Church
Trinity Episcopal Church
Great Shiloh
Olivet
Secular Franciscans
Roberta and Friends
Amma Group
Dinner
Charlie and Friends
Pilgrim Presbyterian
College Hill Presbyterian
Schoeneck Moravian
First Hispanic Baptist
St. Anthony of Padua
Good Shepherd
St. Rocco’s
Our Lady of Mercy
Faith Friday Fellowship
Wind Gap Korean Baptist
St. Andrew’s Lutheran
St. John’s UCC– Nazareth
St. Paul’s Lutheran
Quaker Meeting
St. Vincent De Paul Society
Slate Belt Baptist
The Finegans
We would like to
give a special
thanks to FAITH
LUTHERAN for
providing a Bible
Study class every
Sunday night at
6:00pm.
A native of Southside Easton, Shawn Ferraria grew up in a
low-income household with a single mother and two brothers.
He met his father at age 16 and began working for his
construction company. For years he used the money he made to
buy his brothers’ school lunches and pay his mother’s rent as
she struggled with the mental health problems that have
affected multiple members of his family, himself included.
Shawn decided to put himself through college, where his drug
addiction began. His dependence eventually put him on life
support for 23 hours and 52 minutes (a mere 8 minutes away
from the 24-hour life support limit for patients
without insurance) and landed him in Northampton County Prison
for a year for a crime that, to this day, he has no recollection of committing.
Shawn spent his sentence “getting his mind balanced.” He read the Bible and went to church
service every night. Shawn was discharged to Safe Harbor, where staff member Jeff Poch
took him under his wing. After almost a year, Shawn secured housing of his own. He pro-
ceeded to return to Safe Harbor and volunteer over 60 hours a week. Now almost 2 years so-
ber, Shawn has been hired as a house manager. He is thankful to have the opportunity to
help others overcome the same obstacles he once faced. “You can’t start the next chapter of
your life if you keep reading the one before,” Shawn explains, “every day I sit down and
think, how can I better myself from yesterday?” We are happy to welcome Shawn onto Safe
Harbor’s staff and are grateful for all of his hard work and determination!
Safe Harbor Easton
536 Bushkill Drive
Easton, PA 18042
610.258.5540
Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 185
Easton, PA 18042 We are looking for community members and/or organizations
to donate funds towards a badly needed lavatory
restoration. The plumbing, showers, and toilets are in poor condition from very heavy use. Our fourteen female residents
utilize a single restroom in their dormitory several times a day,
while our twenty-two male residents utilize two restrooms
in their dormitory. The restrooms have not been
updated since the shelter was founded. It has been 21 years of
good performance, but the plumbing, toilets, sinks, and
showers must be replaced and new plumbing installed.
Please visit our GoFundMe page to help us reach our goal to repair our
restrooms at the shelter!
http://www.gofundme.com/jh6ncc
Lavatory
Project
WORDS of W I S D O M “I try to STAY MOTIVATED. At times it gets a little
overwhelming. The thing that keeps me going is to just THINK POSITIVE, that’s what gets me through. It’s not easy but it does help out. Things are
going to get better in time, but IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN IT HAPPENS” -Anonymous (current resident)
“It’s NEVER TOO LATE to do something with your life. People tend to
give up, but at any point you can change your life around. You need a support system, you need a plan. You can’t just wing it. But with those things
in place, IT IS POSSIBLE TO MAKE A CHANGE.” -Tommy (former resident)
“My definition of HOPE is: HANG ON, pain ends.” - Kris, (current resident)
“I’m going to LIVE, I’m going to LOVE, and stay straight and sober
because the way I feel now is BETTER THAN ANY DRUG I EVER DID.” - Anonymous (current resident)
“If I let my circumstances dictate what I feel, I’m never going to feel good.
When I wake up in the morning, I’M GOING TO DECIDE how I feel that day!” - Ed (former resident)