EIES Gets Cool in South Orange

Just in time for this week's heat wave, EIES is turning on the air conditioner. Bob Salter explained that the building's 27-year-old unit failed earlier this summer. A new unit will be installed this week thanks to contributions from the South Orange Public Library and dedicated EIES volunteers.

EIES helps those unable to read because of a visual disability by converting newspapers, magazines and other text into audio files that are then distributed via audiotapes, radio, cable TV, telephone and the Internet. Volunteer readers suffered in the July heat, when the old air conditioner, whose condition was "iffy" at best, according to Salter, broke. The old unit cooled the back area of the historic building, where the studios and equipment are kept.

"Our volunteers are the heart and soul of EIES," said Salter, who described a makeshift set-up of fans and portable units. "They struggled through," he said, even during the July heat wave.

EIES received proposals to repair and to replace the unit from AirGroup.  Repair work depended on finding replacement parts from a unit of the same make and similar age. The group decided to replace the system, especially when AirGroup employees better understood the philanthropic nature of EIES work. The proposal was reasonable, explained Salter.

Still, it's a bill to be paid by a volunteer group. Executive Director Frank Scafidi explained that EIES  received funding from the South Orange Public Library. Then, said Scafidi, two volunteers, Sarah Denson and Mel Wallerstein, came forward. Denson is a 25-year veteran with EIES and she was able to direct funds from the Denson Family Foundation. Likewise, Wallerstein, whose wife is a longtime volunteer, obtained funds from the Wallerstein Foundation for Geriatric Life Improvement.

The work will be completed in the next several days, just in time for August's heat. No matter: EIES volunteers will be cool, real cool.