Masthead

AUGUST 2012

In This Issue:
Parade of Nations
Microsoft Donates $170K in Software
Where's ANDRUS?

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It's Backpack Time! 

Each year, with the help of many generous friends, businesses and donors, ANDRUS launches a Backpack Project to collect brand new, fully stocked backpacks for the children in our care at 14 sites throughout Westchester. Last year, a record 936 backpacks were collected!! This year's collection is already underway. If you or your group or business would like to join our campaign to ensure wonderful first days of school for our children, contact Genna Federico at 914.965.3700 x1200  

gfederico@jdam.org 

SAVE THE DATE:

ANDRUS Fall Gala

Friday, October 12

  

For more information on sponsorships or to reserve tickets please contact Kevin Cook at 914.965.3700 x1241 or kcook@jdam.org

Orchard School Olympics

Kick Off with Parade of Nations!


 

On July 24, with the opening of the London Olympics still to come, our Orchard School students held their own opening ceremony with a joyous "Parade of Nations". One hundred and fifty students and staff, dressed in traditional clothing and waving handcrafted flags, paraded in blistering sun with all the pride and spirit of true Olympians. The School's six week summer session features the Olympics as its central theme. Held at the half-way point in the session, the Parade is a festival of accomplishments and harbinger of more to come.

Our students spent the first weeks of July engaged in research on countries chosen by each class with special emphasis on geography, history, economy, culture and accomplishments. An academic program that integrates hands on experiences and creative enterprise with basic academics represents a winning combination for our students. Our parade featured music and dance as well as banners with important facts they had learned about each country.

Throughout the summer session, students will keep track of the Olympic Games but their time will be filled with field trips to learn more about each country as well as with preparation for an International Food Festival and a celebratory Closing Ceremony. You can be sure there will be medals all around for our champions.

Microsoft Corporation

 Invests in ANDRUS 

 

Tech giant Microsoft Corporation has initiated a major transformation in technology at ANDRUS with its gift of $170,000 in state of the art software. Microsoft's Corporate Citizenship program applies partnerships, technology innovations, people and resources "to help solve societal challenges and create economic opportunities on both a global and local scale." Nancy Woodruff Ment, President and CEO of ANDRUS spoke for all of us when she said "This amazing gift supports the rapid programmatic growth we've achieved in recent years by improving project management, linking our growing number of community-based sites and building our video and web capacities. Microsoft is ensuring that we will continue strengthening our services to children and families across Westchester County."

 

For Jason Bryan, Director of Management of Information Systems at ANDRUS, the gift represents a dream fulfilled. "Microsoft has clearly demonstrated that they want to provide technology tools, training, and resources that can help create opportunities and transform communities.  We thank them for their tremendous gift to our agency." The MIS team is fully focused on installing and integrating the new technology which includes licenses for Windows 7 in all work stations and upgrades to our exchange server with added features, tools and security. SharePoint will be used to revamp the ANDRUS intranet, an increasingly essential hub of information from policy and procedure manuals to online resources for training and communication.   Thank you, Microsoft, for setting the standard of Corporate Citizenship.

  

Where's ANDRUS?
Upcoming Conferences and Appearances  

ANDRUS is sharing its expertise all around the country in the coming months! Watch for us in the following places:

 

  • Lorelei A. Vargas and Brian Farragher have been invited to speak at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Local Funding Partnerships.  Their presentation, entitled "The Sanctuary Model: Getting Started", is scheduled for Thursday, September 13 at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. 
  • ANDRUS will have a strong presence at the National Alliance for Children and Families Annual Meeting in October, 2012.  ANDRUS is sponsoring a pre-conference training session on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study which documents the long term poor health outcomes associated with adverse childhood experiences.  The session will open with a keynote address by Dr. Robert Anda, Co-Principal Author of the ACE Study, followed by a panel moderated by ANDRUS CEO Nancy Woodruff Ment.  Panelists will include COO Brian Farragher discussing the role of leadership in creating trauma informed organizations and ANDRUS Distinguished Fellow Dr. Sandra Bloom discussing the Sanctuary Model.  Jody Becker Green of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, and Christine Gradert of Family Resources in Iowa will join the panelists.  The conference session will take place at the Caribe Royale Orlando in Florida on October 16.  For more information on the conference, click here.
  • Lorelei A. Vargas and Joe Benamati will be featured at the 24th Annual Conference of the Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children in Baltimore, Maryland.  The interactive lecture, entitled "How Organizations Can Provide the Medicine for Disrupted Attachment" will take place on September 21 pm at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel.  For more information on the conference, click here. 

 

About ANDRUS

ANDRUS provides support and treatment for 2,500 children and their families throughout Westchester suffering from emotional illness and trauma. The agency offers prevention, assessment, educational, treatment and research programs that help children and families achieve healthy, stable lives.  ANDRUS has grown from its origins as an orphanage into a premier non-profit mental health, social service and special education provider and resource for Westchester.