Basket of goodies

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

At our management meeting we discussed our health care plan. By promoting wellness, we hope to keep our costs down, but a major illness or two can quickly put a strain on any insurance policy. We also have a system of Catastrophic Leave. One of our employees has used up all her sick leave and personal days, and faces yet another surgery. Human resources put a call out asking if any employees had extra sick days they wanted to donate to help her out. I was pleased to hear that we had a quick and generous response from co-workers. Now she has enough days to go into surgery without worrying about losing any days of pay.  We also set up our next supervisor training workshop about how to handle bad attitudes in the work place. That does come up occasionally, and we need to be proactive instead of letting hurts fester.

In other HR news we have a vacancy, a High School houseparent position, and are interviewing two candidates this week. They’ll spend some time in the homes to get a feel for what we do and see if it is a good fit. Several other houseparents will interview and put in their recommendations.

We have a number of remodeling projects around campus. The business office break room is finally getting a makeover and facelift. When I stopped by to check out the progress, I saw Mark installing more energy-efficient lights. Because of our efforts at adding more insulation, better windows and doors, and better lighting we are already seeing a savings on our electric bills. We still use a tremendous amount, but efforts at conservation help out in the long run.

For Enrichment night the students across campus are gathering in family groups, with their own brothers and sisters or close relatives, and putting together baskets of goodies to take home with them to help their families celebrate Thanksgiving.

Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future.

One thought on “Basket of goodies”

  1. If people could just work together the way St. jo’s does, the world would sure be a better place in a hurry..!
    HOORAY for St. Jo’s..!
    HUGS And Prayers to All,
    Mia and Bob
    +

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