July 2016 Staff Above & Beyond

These staff members were nominated for this month's Above & Beyond Awards.  Winners of the drawing are Alma Boggs, Betsy Weiss, Linda Hickman, Shelly Baxter, Paul McDonald and Colette Ryan.  Congratulations all of you!

Alma Boggs - Alma is a great Bus Driver to work with.  She is always friendly with the children and the parents. She works hard to build relationships with them.  She keeps the children safe and goes up and beyond with her help in the Sumer Bridge program, giving breaks and helping out.  I appreciate all she does. 

Ginny Mersman and Nancy Blair - Once again, Ginny and Nancy went above and beyond in getting centers moved during the summer.  Many hours were spent packing, sorting, lifting, moving and driving around to centers to get everything in the right place.  It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it and Ginny and Nancy have done it again!

Betsy Weiss and Bersy Tudor - I had gone to ask a question about an area of their job that I am unfamiliar with.  Within just a couple of minutes of talking with them, they had given me lots of information and offered to help me if I still needed more.  It is always nice to have such helpful co-workers when working on projects that contain pieces of our work that are new to me.  Thank you ladies for all your help.

Linda Hickman - Linda packed up the entire front office and storage area in Mt Orab for the move.  She also assisted other staff in packing up their offices as well.   Once in the building, Linda assisted with inventorying the entire new building.  This included 22 offices, 3 large group rooms, as well as the kitchen front office and the furniture and chairs that are in the storage area.”

Shelly Baxter – Shelly enlisted the help of her family as well as worked countless hours herself at the new Brown County office during the construction of the new facility.  Her youngest daughter helped clean, clear trash and set out the outlet covers in the therapy offices so others could install them.  She also donated some of her gently used toys. Shelly’s oldest daughter painted the Encourage the Heart logo on the wall next to the exit from the therapy wing to the waiting room, so all who pass by can be reminded.  Shelly was at the office on weekends and she swept, mopped, learned to cut tile, painted, washed walls  and attended to a variety of other tasks while maintaining all other her responsibilities as an Assistant Director.”

Paul McDonald - For anyone who knows Paul, they know that while he will hate the recognition, he really deserves it.  Paul does what he does for CFI with a positive attitude and care about his workmanship as well as consideration for all those who use the facilities.   This was especially true as he worked countless hours renovating the Brown County office to a beautiful and user friendly facility.   He designed and made many of the wooden trims throughout the Mt. Orab office on top of all else that goes along with a job as large as this one was.  Paul was mindful that children and families, as well as the staff, would be using the facility and made an extra effort in creating welcoming space.”

Colette Ryan – Colette has rapidly advanced in her short time at Child Focus, and for those of us out here at Genesis it is no surprise. She is clinically sound, wonderful at her job, supportive to her peers and is always willing to do anything she can to help our program be more successful. As she has been transitioning into her new position as Assistant Director, she has been willing to continue her role as a Supervisor, Therapist, Confidant, and Co-worker. Colette’s dedication to the staff and kids out here is unmatched and will be sorely missed. I want to thank her for being the support that helps me to be the best that I can be, day in and day out. She no doubt is ABOVE AND BEYOND and deserves to be recognized for her efforts and approach to her job.

Hats Off:

Beth Crawford does an extraordinary job! She juggles a lot between emails, incoming and outgoing calls. Phone is nonstop. She is a good representative for Child Focus, because she is very informative, polite and treats each caller with respect. We all can have tough jobs, but generally, catch a few minutes break. The only break I see Beth can have is the lunch. She deserves a shout out!”

I would like to give a huge Hats Off and extend my eternal thanks to Katie Peters, Shelly Baxter, Laura Stith, Lisa Beckman, Jen Parham, and Elsa Kennedy for covering in the Norwood office after the resignation of the Norwood Office Manager. I know it isn’t easy to rearrange schedules on short notice and I truly appreciate all the assistance everyone has provided and the flexibility of all involved.

I would also like to extend a Hats Off to Judy Law for manning the front office in the 551 building solo in the evenings while Elsa is covering the Norwood office.”