The Livingston Chinese Association (LCA) regularly organizes seminars on trending topics in the community. The organization recently held programs on Hurricane Ida insurance claims, and water treatment options.Post-Hurricane ClaimsThe unprecedented flooding brought by Hurricane Ida affected many local families, many of whom had never had any insurance claims on their homes before. The LCA invited members and local Chinese residents to a September seminar with two experts from related industries: insurance agent Linjing Yang and licensed home inspector Mark Wang.Yang covered topics on types of property insurance coverages, flood zones and flood insurance, typical process of home insurance claims. Wang, drawing on his expertise in residential structure and home inspection, elaborated on different techniques of waterproofing basements and other areas of the home.Drinking Water SafetyIn mid-September, Livingston residents were alerted by letters from the township about a contaminant called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) exceeding regulated level in some wells in the town’s water system. Although the township shut down the impacted wells and will take further actions to mitigate the risks, drinking water safety immediately became a topic of discussion among community members.LCA board member Jim Hao, who has an environmental engineering background and experience in the water treatment industry, hosted on October 9 an online seminar on the topic of drinking water safety. The program featured two experts in drinking water safety, Qingwu Wang is founder and chief executive officer of a company specializing in research and the development and commercialization of water treatment technology; and Qiantao Shi, a researcher at Stevens Institute of Technology who focuses on water treatment material and technologies.After the speakers covered the topics of common sources of contaminants in drinking water and different types of water treatment material and technologies, a question-and-answer session and discussion followed on residential drinking water filtering systems that extended the planned two-hour seminar to nearly three hours.The LCA has started to host the seminars with both online and in-person options available. These seminars were conducted in Mandarin Chinese with PowerPoint presentations in English and Chinese. They are designed to provide guidance and answers to community members in areas of heightened concerns raised by recent events. Having received positivie audience feedback, the LCA plans to continue offering seminars as needed.
