 All right. Good morning, everybody. Let's try that again. Let's try it again. Good morning, everybody. All right. It's so good to see all of your faces. Just want to welcome you to the 34th Kids Safe Collaborative Annual Award Ceremonies. I'm really excited to be here. My name is Marlon Fisher. I'll be your emcee for today. I've done this so many times, but I've never been this nervous. Mostly because Dr. First is in the room and those are some pretty big shoes to fill, even though I do wear size 14. So I'll do my best. Okay. I'll do my best. So today is fun. This is our first in-person event in three years. So let's talk to that. It's kind of a big deal. Kind of a big deal. Like, you know, in the last three years, you know, we've seen COVID, we've got, you know, inflation. We saw chickens dying from flues and the price of Costco chicken never changed. So, you know, that's pretty, pretty cool. So we're glad to be back in person. Right now we have, there's other also people joining via Zoom. So thank you to all of you who are on our Zoom, the Zoom chat, the Zoom group. And I also like to thank Henhouse Media for providing the technical expertise and presenting this as a live stream event. So thank you for that. Oh, and then there's Doug Goodman. Where's Doug at? Boom. So Doug's around. He's the photographer. Thank you for volunteering your time. If you, he's going to be around taking pictures. If you don't want your pictures taken, just let Doug know. But I want to remind you that after this event, if you do want your pictures taken, find Doug and we'll, you know, you can congregate somewhere where we can get your photos taken as groups or individuals. We'll keep this going. I also like to thank the Double Tree at Burlington for hosting us in this beautiful space and just a few housekeeping notes. Bathrooms are out this door to the right and then take another right. For our Zoom audience, this presentation is like attending a webinar where you're all going to be muted, which means we can't hear you and you'll hear us. We can't hear you cheer. I'd like to say if you're in the Zoom group, just send us a bunch of thumbs ups and claps, clap emojis, those work. But however, you know, as we honor the, as we honor everyone, you can send your well wishes via the chat to congratulate everyone as they receive their award. And be sure to let us, oh, be sure to let us know who you are so we know where we're to send those congratulations to. We'll save them and compile a list for the awardees. Today's schedule is provided an awards program on your tables. And for our live stream viewers, there's the link in the chat. The program has information about all the honorees, kids safe, and acknowledges of the dozens of sponsors to make this event possible. Man, I told you I was nervous, right? Get some dry mouth. All right, let's keep going. Let's keep this going. So this wouldn't be our typical kids safe awards without a fabulous auction. So currently there's an auction going on, which is now open. There's a QR code on your tables. And for those of you online, we've put the link in the chat window. There are many wonderful items by generous businesses that have been donated by generous businesses and friends of kids safe. You can now bid on those items and the auction closes on April 20th. And you still have time to get into it. You can, you can, you can fight for those items if you want that what you should actually you should fight for those items. That's what I would do. And of course, we have a raffle going on the best raffle ever because I entered it and won some tickets to one of the parks one time. So there's a, and that ends, that starts, that's right now that that's the raffle is for a handmade quilt featuring New England teams, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Giants. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm a giant fan. The New England Patriots, the Bruins, and you, that ends, those will be sold until 1015. So I'll give one another reminder some way at some point about the raffle. And then April is child abuse prevention awareness month. So again, thank you all for being here. It's also like April is also summer, winter and spring all in one thing as well. So we are experiencing a real April today, I guess. Let's get started with a few words from our, from Beth Wormith, who is the Kids Safe Collaborative Board of Director president. Welcome all to the Kids Safe Collaboratives 34th annual Outstanding Service Awards. My name is Beth Wormith Nichols, and I'm the president of the Kids Safe Board of Directors. For the past three plus decades, our organization has been proud to present these awards. By presenting these awards, we shine a light on individuals and teams who provide extraordinary care and lead vital initiatives to ensure the ongoing health and safety of children in our community. We're excited to be back in person this year and grateful to also be able to present the event live stream for those who choose to be remote. Prior to serving as board president, I worked alongside Sally on child protection teams in my role as a community based psychologist. These meetings were often the turning point in the lives of many families I work with and modeled care, kindness and community. As a board member, I've been honored to watch this concept on a much larger scale as I witnessed the work that Kids Safe continues throughout our community to protect children at risk of abuse and neglect. The staff and board's commitment to our community's children is continually present in every aspect of our work, whether it's through legislation, protection teams, community advocacy work, or celebrating some of our own community heroes, which we get to do today. Now I'd like to acknowledge the Kids Safe Collaborative Board members who share my commitment to the Kids Safe mission to improve the health and safety of all children in our region. I'm honored to serve with Pauline Tyler, vice president, Jeff Moran, longtime treasurer, Erin Chastonay, Andrea Dionne, Wanda Kiyoshin, Denise Myers, Cindy Olson, Ken Schatz, Carolyn Smith, Kohali Tyler, and Sue Victory. Additionally, there are a few members of our community whose outsized contributions to the Kids Safe Collaborative have been so significant that we asked them to allow us to name them as honorary board members. Happily they agreed. These are Dr. Lewis First, the University of Vermont Children's Hospital, former Kids Safe Board President Jay Fayette, pediatrician Dr. Joe Hagen, and former Kids Safe Board President Cherine Hart. We thank them all for their many years of commitment to this vital organization. There are many generous businesses that are supporting today's event, which are listed in the program and shown on the screen, as well as many donors to our online auction, which we hope you've checked out. It is only with your financial commitment to Kids Safe that we can continue our valuable work in the community. Thank you to all who helped make today's event so successful. We appreciate each and every person who has worked hard to make this possible. Lastly, thank you for being part of this celebration. Your presence affirms your commitment to Kids Safe's work, and we invite you to continue to join us in the years ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Beth. So during the 2020 awards, honorary board member Jay Fayette, then CEO of PC Construction pledged $10,000 for five years in honor of Sally and her work at Kids Safe Collaborative. It was a tremendous and generous surprise, and we want to thank the employees and employee owners of PC Construction for their continuing commitment as our presenting sponsor. It is also my pleasure to thank a few of the other generous sponsors of today's awards ceremony. One of the long-standing, one of two long-standing premier sponsors is the University of Vermont Children's Hospital at UVM Medical Center, and we thank Gary Scott. Is he in the room? Well, there are representatives from UVM Medical Center here, so we thank you for joining us at today's presentation. The other premier sponsor is PCC, who has supported Kids Safe for many years and connected us in 2020 to Henhouse Media to produce the awards ceremony as a live stream event. Other returning major sponsors include Myers Container Services, New England Federal Credit Union, and Peads One. We thank them for their continued commitment to Kids Safe and its important work, and with the help of all the sponsors, this year's award event will raise over $50,000. Before I turn things over to the Kids Safe Executive Director Sally Borden, Beth has one more thing to share. I would like to take a moment and note that this year marks Sally's 25th anniversary with Kids Safe. In 2001, she became the agency's executive director and we are thankful she remains dedicated to this role and continues to help this organization evolve and transform. When Sally joined in 1998 to manage a five-year federal grant, she did not realize she would become the cornerstone of Kids Safe and a local celebrity. She believed in the mission and committed herself tirelessly to doing the challenging work of building networks that work together to end child abuse and neglect. Additionally, she's not only done this for Vermont but for a range of other states that have asked Sally and Kids Safe to help them to create similar treatment concepts in their own communities after witnessing their value and success in protecting children. If you are inspired, we invite you to consider a donation in honor of this wonderful milestone for Sally and Kids Safe. Thank you, Beth, for that fitting tribute. If you would like to consider making a gift in honor of Sally's 25th anniversary, you're invited to grab a donation envelope on your table or use the text to give option which was on the screen and it might be also on the table as well. So without further ado, as I said, when I started this work, I never imagined being able to stand next to someone who is so dedicated and just an amazing person. So I'd like to introduce you to the Executive Director of Kids Safe Collaborative, Sally Borden, everyone. Wow, thank you. Looking at Beth over there. Thank you, Beth. That was lovely. And I don't know, is there a longevity award? There are a few of you I know in this room who have been around at least that 25 years that I met when you say 1998. That just sounds like so long ago. But anyway, no, I'm so honored and so delighted. Thanks, Beth and Marlon. And thank all of you, really. Yeah, I was hired in 1998 to run a five-year grant. I was like, five years? I can do that. Five-year grant and then we'll see what's next. And I started working with this tiny little organization and pretty quickly learned that it's really unique and really special. And we accomplish so much with such a small staff and a small budget. And it's community-based by design. That is what Kids Safe Collaborative is. And yet we have such a huge impact. We connect with so many of you in this room in so many different ways. Excuse me, so many different ways. And so I stuck around. And it turned out to be 25 years later just like that. But these awards, this is really one of my very favorite, favorite things to do, recognizing the extraordinary efforts of individuals and teams to keep children safe and strengthen families. Because a key part of Kids Safe Collaborative is the collaborative part. We couldn't do what we do without partnering with all of you. And so we count on working with all of you as our partner agencies to achieve our mission. And recognizing these outstanding individuals and teams today is a central part of that. And when we started this about 34 years ago before I was here, it was just a simple gathering with just a few guests. A few of you might remember that, Joe Hagen. But over the 25 years that I've been here, it has grown bigger and better. And I'm happy to report that there is never a shortage of amazing people to discover who are doing amazing, incredible things in our community to keep children safe and well cared for. So we're so grateful to be together today to present the awards in person again to have you be able to be here with your families and friends and colleagues after three years of much smaller celebrations, which were also wonderful, but it really is great to be back. And before we launch into the awards themselves, I want to thank you to our board of directors and to the small but mighty staff of Kids Safe Collaborative and give a shout out to them. Megan Masterson, who many of you met at the registration desk today. Megan's the assistant director at Kids Safe, Elise Amy, who put so much of this together. Our coordinator of communications and development is back in the back and probably doesn't want me to point her out, but I will anyway. And Kari Ann Murray, who's our administrative assistant, is also in the back there. And Penny Tompkins, escorting Erica Radke up and who many of you have met over the many years. So we couldn't do what we do without these amazing individuals. And now I'm going to turn it back over to Marlon for just a few other pieces before we do the awards. Yes. So Gary Scott just arrived. So I want to thank you, Gary Scott, who is the vice president of hospital services at UVM. So thank you for being here today. I know you were just a few seconds late, but I got you. I got you. So we're delighted to have, to welcome representatives from our congressional delegation, James Paradisis from the office of Senator Bernie Sanders and Bella Watson from the office of Senator Peter Welch, who also sent this videotaped message. Hi there. It's Peter Welch. Greetings to the awardees, kids safe, collaborative and guest. Today we honor individuals in groups in our community who've made a significant contribution to improving the safety and well-being of children. This ceremony serves as proof of all the incredible work that you are all doing on the front lines to support Vermont's children. And congratulations to all the awardees. This award is testament to your dedication to helping youth and your commitment to working with Kids Safe Collaborative. I applaud your work, and I applaud your dedication to improving the well-being of Vermont's youth. To everyone, thank you for the services you've provided during these very challenging times to Vermont's children. It's much appreciated. We also recently, sorry, we also welcome recently appointed Deputy Department of Children and Family Service, Department of, ah, see, that's why, this is what happens sometimes. There's lights. You don't see these lights, but they're throwing me off. So we're going to go back one second. We also welcome recently appointed Department of Children and Families Commissioner, Chris Winters, who is attending today, as well as Department for Children and Families Deputy Commissioner Erica Radke. Please welcome Erica, who will say a few words. Thank you. You know, it is nice to be back in person, even though it is a bit nerve-wracking. I know what you mean, Marlon, in terms of having nerves and to have my new boss there, but I just want to say good morning everyone. And it's so wonderful just to see so many DCF, FSD staff, valued community partners, and others who work to support the safety and welfare of Vermont's children and youth here. As the Deputy Commissioner for the Family Services Division, I know firsthand that we could not do what we do without the valuable work done each and every day by so many of you here. Whether it's providing shelter, counseling and support services, home visiting, child care, or other assistance, you are the fabric of our communities that supports the safety of children and youth. And thank you to KidSafe Collaborative for honoring people who play such a key role in supporting kids and families. It's a pleasure to recognize just the impressive and incredible work of this KidSafe awardees this year. Family Services is thrilled to see these people receiving the recognition they so deserve, from individuals like Christina Brown, who are newer in the field, to those with longevity serving the community like Mary McAllister. We are all honored to serve and work alongside you. So I'd like just to spend a few moments sharing what I know about this year's award recipients. Kathy Kelly has been a main state in the pediatric social work community, and her work with the new American population is truly inspirational. She's been instrumental in ensuring that numerous children who are new to Vermont and to our community and country have ready access to culturally sensitive pediatric care. And Gabriella Tufo Strauss works tirelessly to support Burlington children and youth to have access to a fun and safe place to be for early education, child care, after-school care, and teen programming at the King Street Center. Her outreach touches so many families in the Burlington community, and that work has ripple effects throughout the family system. I've been told that Mary McAllister is truly one of a kind. She's a fierce advocate who knows people in systems and makes sure that things get done and that change happens. She's supported thousands of victims in her career and saved more lives than we could possibly know. Her contributions to safety are immeasurable. Sarah Schnipper is another fierce advocate for children, particularly those struggling with mental health challenges. She collaborates with other providers, a UBMMC, as well as community partners, to try to make sure children receive the care that they need to be well, and she pushes our collective systems to do better. Like Gabriella, Christina Brown's work at Spectrum ensures that older youth and young adults have a fun, safe place to be in the Burlington community. The Drop-In Center provides a mechanism to support youth on many levels, and many teens would not otherwise be receiving services if they weren't going to Spectrum. Finally, the Transgender Youth Program at UBMMC is providing vital, affirming, and I dare say life-saving services to many transgender youth in our community. We truly would not be able to support trans youth in our community without this program. So to each of the awardees, thank you so much for what you do, and congratulations to all of you, for me as well as the entire Family Services Division. Thank you. Thank you, Erika. And now let's move on to celebrating our honorees, which Sally will lead us off with right now. Okay, all right. But I do think you have to give a reminder about those quilt raffle tickets. Get your quilt raffle tickets. So I actually got to see the quilt raffle ticket. It's a chessboard. Is it a chessboard? Oh, there's two. Oh, there's two? Oh, okay. Yeah, there's a chessboard over there. There's a chessboard with all the teams. And then the quilt is a big quilt. With all of the teams that I'm a New Yorker, so it's kind of hard to say those names. But yeah, don't forget that the auction closes at, well, the raffle ends at 10.15. So if you haven't gotten your raffle ticket yet, let's get those now. And then, Sally, you got it. Oh, there's QR codes. Oh, there are QR codes on the screen. There we go. Okay. For the auction and the quilt. Yeah, but how about those Boston Bruins, you know? Okay. Hey, my next one, the playoff game, I just, that hasn't happened since, that hasn't happened since 1998. All right. Yeah. Last chance, though, get those quilt raffle tickets now. And we're going to move into the awards. So first of all, before we do that presentation, I do want to say just one more thing about the awards. And that is that these awards are given by KidsSafe Collaborative, but the nominations come from our colleagues, from our partner organizations, from many of you. And we are so grateful to be able to recognize these awardees and the incredibly important work that they do. Just as Deputy Commissioner Radke was reading that, I was, I was like, wait, they're there. They're there. They're there. Yay. Really so deserving of recognition. Now, our selection process is we have a committee, we get these nominations, and we have a committee that goes through the arduous task of making those difficult decisions. And so I want to take a minute to acknowledge the selection committee members. So some of them are here today, Kohali Tyler, who is in the back helping out with our, our media folks. Yes, Kohali is on our board of directors, Sherene Hart, who is an honorary, honorary board member, Heather Ross, Penny Tompkins, who many of you know, Margaret Vincent, and myself. So a huge thank you to them for the process of award selection. Trust me, these decisions are never easy. And it is not too early to think about nominations for next year. And now for our very first honoree, Mary Ann McAllister. Mary is a victim advocate with the Burlington Police Department. And as you heard, she works primarily with those impacted by domestic violence. Mary, who I've known pretty much as long as I've been in this role, is being honored with our Lifetime Achievement Award. She is unable to be here today. I understand she's out of town, but she is going to be joining us via Zoom. And I know that a number of her colleagues are with us remotely, as well. So here to start us off and tell you more about Mary's decades of dedicated service are her colleagues from Burlington Police Department, Chief John Mirad, Detective Corporal Nikki Moyer, and Domestic Violence Prevention Officer Aaron Bartle. I am a police officer with Burlington PD. And I am currently assigned as the Domestic Violence Prevention Officer with Mary as my go-to for everything. She just knows what she's doing. And she has this really amazing sense of self and just makes people feel heard and understood and safe. Mary is one of those people that does not stop working. That level of dedication and compassion for what she does and what she can help facilitate is unheard of. It is, it's amazing. She is just so good at what she does. I have the great fortune to be Mary McAllister's boss. I want to tell Mary and extend to her my deepest congratulations for this amazing award. It is incredibly well deserved. Mary has been at this work for 30 years, started as a police officer here in 1987. She became one of the first victim's advocates in not just the state, but the profession. She is a state-recognized expert in these matters. Most importantly, most importantly, there are thousands and thousands of women, of children, of families who are not victims, but are survivors. Thanks in part to the work that Mary has done. She is someone who has made this city and this county a better place for the people whom she has worked with. Every officer here knows her. Every officer here turns to her. Every officer here sends cases her way because they know that when they do, they're going to get guidance. They're going to get assistance. And most importantly, the people who are involved in those cases are going to get the most incredible care and the best kind of advocacy that they could possibly hope for. She really is someone who puts her heart and soul into this kind of work. And I think that the people that she works with and most importantly the victims that she serves recognize that and they're better for it. I cannot thank her enough for the work that she does. I cannot express enough how proud I am, how privileged I am to get to work with her every single day. I cannot express how great I think it is that she is being given this award. I am Nicole Moyer. I'm a detective here at the Burlington Police Department. I've been working here for just over 10 years. It wasn't until I became the domestic violence investigator in 2016 that I really got to see how critical Mary's work has been to the victims and survivors of domestic violence. I would estimate that at least 60 to 70 percent of who she has worked with over the almost 30 years of doing this have had children affected as well. Mary is just as much of an advocate for the safety of the children as she is for the mom who is enduring all of the violence. She's never turned anyone away from her help and what she can give them. She always finds a way. She always finds time. Mary just has a way that people talk to her. People trust her and she's really earned that trust for a lot of hard work. She has an integrity like none other that I've met. I truly believe Mary is the kindest person I have ever met in my life full of hope and she shares that. She really knows how to spread her light to everyone in every situation. She gives people hope when they have none. I do know that they are watching on Zoom and I will share with all of you the certificate that we will be presenting to Mary in recognition of your dedication and tireless support for victim survivors of domestic violence and their children. Your 30 plus years of exemplary work, leadership expertise, and outstanding commitment has immeasurably improved the safety and well-being of thousands of children, youth, and families. And so for Mary and your colleagues, colleagues who are out there watching, congratulations and we will present this to you as you know at a later time. Congratulations Mary. Our next award recognizes Kathy Kelly for her role as the social worker, care manager for the pediatric New American program at the University of Vermont Children's Hospital. Here to tell us about her vital role are Dr. Andrea Green, Dr. Stan Wanberger from the hospital, Dr. Lauren Dewey of the University of Vermont and Amelia Machinovich from Vermont Refugee Resettlement. I nominated Kathy Kelly who is our social worker because she probably is the most important element of our program. The pediatric New American program at the University of Vermont Children's Hospital serves refugees, immigrants, migrants, those seeking asylum from a wide variety of countries. And we do also support a lot of children and families who have come here throughout their immigration pathways. She is absolutely essential to our families. Having Kathy there and having someone who has 30 years of experience has been an incredible gift because she is a resource. She has connections. She has trust within the community. She will reach out and meet people's needs. She knows how to break down barriers. She just has an incredible wealth of experience that really benefits our patients. She is just so deserving of this award and I'm incredibly grateful for her and her care of our patients over all these years. Coming to a new country and a new place and getting used to the medical system, there are just so many barriers for families from the way we do our systems to language and cultural differences and how we interact with the healthcare system. But also the fact that families are coming often from places of war or feelings of unsafety. Kathy gets to know families, works from a place of cultural humility and understanding them and in figuring out ways to support them in what makes the most sense. Families come to her and I think know that they can come to her with any question or concern that they're having. Kathy is really warm. She's funny. She is humble. She of course has an approach to her work with families from all over with so many different languages and backgrounds and beliefs and over the last couple of years now, working with her on the Refugee Mental Health Working Group has been an honor to address so many of the barriers that prevent refugee families from seeking and accessing and participating in quality mental health services. First of all, Kathy, congratulations on the outstanding professional award. Kathy is well deserving of this award. Kathy, in her role as a social worker in various settings, most recently at the New American Clinic, she has supported hundreds of people. For that, she should feel proud. I certainly feel honored to have worked with Kathy. When people arrive here, they have so much to learn. Everything is new from the language, the culture, the systems. Kathy has developed expertise in working with new American families who are struggling with social adjustment or mental health. Kathy is someone who people trust and she is someone who follows through, which is critical in our work. Kathy is a person of high integrity. She is a lifeline for many families. Personally, Kathy is someone I turn to, always willing to listen and hear you out. Her ability to empathize and not judge is incredible. She's a colleague, but she's also a friend and I am so proud of her. Kathy, your dedication to ensuring culturally sensitive, collaborative, multi-generational supports for new American families and your expertise and extensive knowledge of resources has significantly improved the health, safety and well-being of children and families in our community. Kathy, congratulations. I'm going to give you this award and we also have for you congratulatory letters from Senators Sanders and Welch, so don't drop them because they might fall off, but I'd like to invite you to make some remarks. Thank you. Good morning. That's the first time I saw that video, so yes, very touched by that. Thank you, KidSafe Collaborative, for this incredible honor and thank you to Andrea Green, Stan Weinberger, who I have to say was, he had the wrong title there. He's actually our medical director at UVN Pediatrics. Lauren Dewey and Emilia Marjanovic for nominating me for this award. It's such a pleasure to collaborate with all of you and I'm so grateful for your dedication to our new American communities. Working with refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers has been the highlight of my social work career and has been my privilege and honor to work with so many members of the new American community over the past 20 plus years in a variety of settings. I'm grateful for those of you who support this community from your respective organizations and I value your collaboration and compassion. I'm especially grateful to Dr. Green and Dr. Karen Fondacaro of Connecting Cultures for creating positions which allowed me to pursue this work and for all that you do to promote the health and mental health of refugees and immigrants. My grandparents came to the U.S. as immigrants almost a century ago after fleeing poverty and very limited opportunities in their native Northern Ireland. Their journey and adjustment to life in their chosen home left a deep impression on me and contributed to my desire to better understand the impact of immigration especially when this is forced by factors beyond an individual's control. My passion for and commitment to this work have been reinforced by the resilience of the individuals and families I have served and I'm grateful for all they have taught me about dealing with trauma, adversity and loss as well as preserving culture, building for the future and finding joy wherever you can. I want to thank my family, friends and co-workers for their ongoing support especially during a particularly difficult year. It means so much to have so many of you here today and many thanks to all of the service providers represented here today including my fellow kidsafe collaborative awardees as you all support children and families in significant ways every day and contribute to making our community healthier, more inclusive and more welcoming. Thank you again for this tremendous honor. Thank you Kathy for those words. Promising young professional. We'll move on to the next award. The next awardee. The promising young professional is awarded an individual with less than 10 years of experience 10 years working in the field improving the lives of youth in the community. The exemplary recipient of this year's promising professional award is Christina Brown the director of basic needs program for spectrum youth and family services and to give you the highlights about why they nominated Christina we will hear from her spectrum colleagues Mark Redmond, Will Town and Faith Hughes. I was the one who nominated Christina Brown for the promising professional award at the kidsafe collaborative and it was an easy decision. Christina started at spectrum in our drop-in center a few years ago she was a regular line worker there and we needed someone to run the drop-in center and I'll tell you it was an easy decision because Christina really distinguished herself as somebody who was intelligent who was responsible who had great compassion and care for the young people there. Now we didn't know there was going to be a pandemic about six months later. I remember being in a meeting with Christina and our other leaders in March of 2020 but literally two days later Christina was meeting like we need to close the drop-in now but we can't just close the drop-in nor we had 26 kids living with us. What do we do? Christina figured it all out. She figured out how we could still keep dropping going safely, how to feed young people, how to care for them. It helped us in a huge way get through the pandemic. She was one of the main people who kept our youth safe and our staff safe. So it was Christina who really elevated the whole role of the drop-in center. Yes, it's still basic needs. It's a place to get food. It's a place to get out of the cold. It's a place to get a shower but it's become more and more of a launching pad to independent living for young people. So I would say that was a major thing that Christina has done. Just such a valuable part of our mission. So downtown, Christina Brown, congratulations on this award. You deserve it. I'm so excited that Christina has been recognized for this award. You know, when I think of her, I think of her strength. I think of her commitment to spectrum, to the youth that we serve here and to the community in general. And I can't think of anybody that is more deserving of our drop-in center as kind of the hub of spectrum. Like if you realize that you need help but you're not even sure in what capacity you do, that's the place you come. And Christina very well could be one of the very first faces that you see walking in the door. Her office is literally in the drop-in center. And that is something that she really thought was a high priority. And I think that's just completely reflective of her passion and the way she approaches this work. Positive, I think just very welcoming and warm, able to relate to people and engage people that may be resistant to accessing services. I'm personally so thankful to work with Christina. Christina shows up every day and not only does she support her team of staff people, but she also supports all of the youth and helps facilitate an incredible organization here. So on top of being a mother and being an expecting mother. So I mean, I could go on all day about why I love her, but mostly just because she's an inspiration to me as a woman and as a leader, it's been a it's been a pleasure and a blessing to get to work with her. Christina, congratulations. As you can all imagine, that was probably the most fun video segment to edit. Many of you know, I love my colleague, Mark Redmond, and editing his video was just so much fun. So I had never met Christina before, but I definitely got a good sense of her. So Christina, you're outstanding dedication to meeting the needs and challenges of young people with flexibility, compassion, respect, creativity and humor has significantly improved the lives of youth in our community. Christina, congratulations. Come on up. Thank you so much to kids safe collaborative for this incredible honor and to my colleagues and mentors at Spectrum, Willtown, Leslie Ferrer, and Mark Redmond for this truly humbling nomination. My work supporting youth at Spectrum began nearly five years ago, but my entry into this field began a couple decades before that. When I was four years old, my dad moved into a room in the big old house owned by our church's organist, Jack. My siblings and I stayed there every other week, but we weren't the only family who called it home. In the other rooms of the house lived families recently immigrated from Central America. Jack offered that resource, his home, to help those families and ours stabilize in our community. When people ask me what I enjoy about this work now, I often cite my own commitment to community. And for the longest time, Jack's house was what I thought of first in connection to that word. Over the last five years, my experience working at Spectrum has genuinely deepened my understanding of what community can look like. When I moved to Vermont in 2018, I took the first job that came up as a youth coach in the drop-in center, and I haven't looked back since. In my time here, I've navigated new parenthood, marriage, a pandemic, loss of loved ones, and about half a dozen moves. The community that I've found in my team at Spectrum has been a constant. The staff in the basic needs programs at Spectrum show up every day to support the youth who sleep in our shelters, cook dinners in our transitional residence, do laundry in our drop-in center. They show up to provide these and countless other resources to young folks who are experiencing homelessness. They show up despite mounting systemic barriers. Above all else, they show up in community to meet youth where they are at, build relationships, and cultivate connection. It is the most impactful and radical thing that we can do, and I'm immeasurably grateful to be a part of it. Direct service positions are too often underpaid, under-resourced, and under-staffed. Organizations like us at Spectrum do what we can to support emerging leaders entering this work, but across the board, this field is having an increasingly difficult time filling direct care positions as our communities' needs grow. We need to continue identifying sustainable solutions to the housing crisis we're facing. We need to continue finding visionary approaches to address substance use and mental health needs of young people. We need to continue bolstering our community's resources for those experiencing homelessness. We need to do all of this, and we can only truly accomplish these goals by supporting and sustaining the dedicated people who are ready and eager to do this work in our community and face those challenges head-on. I'm here today because of this community and this team, and I will continue to do my very best to show up for them as they have for me and as they do for our youth. Thank you. Thank you, Christina. It's also my pleasure. I'm so excited because I just recently joined the board of Spectrum Youth and Family Services, which is pretty amazing, so I get to help with that work. People like Christina are just great. Thank you. I want a nickname, Mark. I want a nickname as well. Uptown. I don't know. You can just call me Big Fish. I think that works fine, Mark. So we're at the midpoint, and at this point I just wanted to pause and thank all the individuals and businesses who have contributed to the Kinsafe online auction. We hope you've had a time to check out all the wonderful items that are from restaurants, like restaurant gift certificates to handmade art pieces, special business baskets for families, and you get a chance to out. I said fight earlier. I meant to say out bid, so I'm going to say out bid, your neighbors for your favorite items. Do not wait too long though, because the auction ends on Thursday, April 20th, and the raffle is officially over at the end of this event where the winner will be announced. So any questions about that? No? Okay. Raffle auction. All right. Here we go. So we'll go on to the next award. The next award is for Outstanding Collaboration. The Outstanding Collaboration Award is being awarded to the Transgender Youth Program at Vermont's Children's Hospital. TYP supports gender diverse youth and their families with a multidisciplinary team of medical, psychological, and social work providers. And to hear more about this team's amazing work, we will tune into Drs. Lewis First from UVM Children's Hospital, Dana Kaplan from outright Vermont, and parent, Timma Doomler. Hi. My name is Timna. My pronouns are she, her, and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about the transgender youth program. If I had to pick three words to describe the transgender youth program, I would say partners, belonging, and hope. When we first started our journey, we needed medical partners who understood what we didn't, partners who were willing to teach us, help us, listen to us, and guide us. The TYP was that partner. They helped us understand all the different directions our journey could take. They met us where we were and helped us prepare for whatever might come next. They also gave us a sense of belonging. They let us know that we weren't alone in our fight for our daughter. The team made sure that we knew they were there with us every step of the way, being seen and supported exactly as we were. That they were fighting for us as much as we were fighting for our daughter. But most of all, they gave us hope. Hope that the joyful, happy, and healthy life we had always wanted for our daughter is 100% possible. Together, as a team, we can do anything for our kids and I will be forever grateful for that. Thank you. I'm really happy to speak about the impact that the trans youth program has on young people and families in our communities. I think that for young trans folks, they're often having to battle a sense of isolation and a questioning of the validity of their identity and so to have such a powerful resource of experts who are on the cutting edge of providing gender-affirming care right here in Vermont, I think, sends a very critical message to young folks and their families that you are here, you are welcome, we see you and we understand how life-saving it is for you to get the care that you need so that you can be your best authentic self. For young people to be able to have that access to care and to know that they are walking in to see providers who get it, who understand their identity and who want to support them in living their most authentic life and recognize the importance that it is truly, truly life-saving. When it comes to thinking about the Outstanding Collaboration Award, I can't think of a group more deserving for this honor than the transgender youth program at our University of Vermont Children's Hospital. They are true leaders and they are true collaborators for youth who are gender diverse in this state and as a result they are really helping to not only provide evidence-based care to this important population of young people but they're also educating all of us in the community and around the state of how to partner with these youth to build strengths and resiliencies that are making a difference. And they are courageous advocates, truly courageous advocates. They stand in strong opposition to any legislation or regulations that would discriminate against any individuals who self-identify as gender diverse and then partner with all of us to do the same. I am first with the transgender youth program and I really on behalf of all of us at the University of Vermont Children's Hospital and as well as just as a citizen in this community, I say congratulations on being the recipient of this year's Outstanding Collaboration Award. You truly deserve this. Thank you Dr. First. I'm delighted that you were here for this award and that video was really, it was really touching. It makes me so proud of our hospital and of our state. So I want to congratulate Libby McDonald who is representing the Transgender Youth Program, many of whom are here today. Libby, I'm going to present this to you and then we're going to hear remarks. Libby's happy too. She doesn't have to say anything today. We're going to hear remarks from Dr. Erica Gibson. So Libby gets to receive the award on behalf of the program and then we'll hear from Dr. Gibson. So Libby, you and your colleagues, your innovative and dedicated work as a multidisciplinary team providing evidence-based, respectful, compassionate, gender-affirmative care and education has significantly improved the health, safety and well-being of gender diverse youth and their families in our community and across Vermont. Libby, I'm really honored to present this to you and your colleagues. Dr. Gibson. My name is Erica Gibson. I'm a pediatrician and I'm the Division Head of Adolescent Medicine here at the UVM Children's Hospital where one of the clinics we run is Transgender Youth Program created to provide information, resources, support and also medical care for gender diverse young people and their parents and guardians and families. We provide a gender affirmative model of care which means we seek to understand and appreciate a young person's affirmed gender identity and then provide whatever resources and support they might need. So some people might come to us just for questions to get information, gather resources and other folks come to us actually seeking medical interventions which can begin once a young person has started puberty and we basically provide whatever they need to thrive and live a happy healthy life. That's our job as pediatric care providers. Anyone that wants to reach out to us for education, information, we happily will respond. Thank you so much for this award. It is such an honor to be nominated and selected and it's such an honor to care for these young people and these families. So this award really acknowledges how important they are and how important this program is in supporting them. This work could not be done without a village, a community and the support of the state. We really do need to meet young people where they are and support them in any way possible. It's not always easy but when you have multidisciplinary providers from a social worker that can check in with a school to a psychologist that can check in on some stress to a nurse who monitors getting medications approved and labs checked, a medical assistant that uses chosen name and pronoun every time they check someone in and it's just critical. So we know that this work keeps young people safe and healthy. It helps them thrive. We know that it continues to be borne out in the emerging evidence around the importance of this care and so we are just so proud and thankful to be able to do it. I would absolutely like to thank the University of Vermont Children's Hospital, Dr. Lewis First, the Medical Center and the Health Network for supporting this care. I would like to acknowledge the American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont because they are also really strong supporters in addition to multiple other medical organizations in the state and our legislators that are working so hard to protect the right to this care. So thank you so much for recognizing us. Our next honoree is Sarah Schnipper who is receiving the Gregory Pican Outstanding, sorry but Gregory Pican Outstanding Advocacy Award which is given to those who have advocated strongly and digitally on behalf of children and youth. And to tell us more about Sarah we will hear from the Capcom Attendings, Dr. Colleen Victor, Haley McGowan and Carolyn Bolshe, as well as Dana Kaplan from Outrate Vermont. Nominating Sarah for this award was a no-brainer, we call her Schnipper. The Capcom Service at UVM Medical Center so that's serving patients in need of child psychiatric support both in the emergency room and on the medical floors. In these times in Vermont child mental health care is neither easy nor straightforward and so what's kind of universally required is perseverance and creativity and a real think outside the box approach. And Sarah has not only all of those attributes but she's also incredibly clinically minded and trauma responsive. Not only can she navigate an incredibly complex system of care but she is always doing it with the child and family sort at the front of her mind. There have been at least a handful of kids that have been boarding in the emergency department for weeks where Sarah is relentless in making sure that these kids get the care that they deserve. I really believe that there are there have been situations where we were able to safely discharge kids to their families and community supports that we would not have been able to do that without her putting all these pieces together and knowing kind of who to call and how to coordinate. She provides as much patient and non-judgmental attention and support to the families as she does the kids. Almost too many examples that come to mind of Sarah doing just a truly magnificent job caring for these kids. She just has always stood out to me as an incredible force for good. She brings so much energy to work every day even to the most challenging patient cases and Sarah takes them on with an incredibly big heart and also kind of a savvy and a wisdom that is born of an incredible breadth of experience in these fields working with a lot of children over the years and she aligns and allies with families but not without sort of keeping her eye on the ball and always having in mind like true north for that patient and what that patient needs. She's good at navigating a really complicated system so she's just you know in that pragmatic way a really good person to have on on your side. I think she's really wonderful about respecting the adolescent patient and recognizing when we're dealing with people who have reached near maturity and near adulthood and and will benefit from being treated as such. We have to keep in mind that we're not just treating this person for three to five days in the hospital but really trying to set a trajectory and and move their vector in a direction of long-term kind of durable improvement. Sarah's the one on the team I think who probably most ensures that we all are working on that. My sense of Sarah is that you have somebody who is such a fierce advocate who really recognizes the importance of youth having autonomy and agency to be able to impact their decisions that impact their their life. That level of dedication of a real fierce commitment to showing up and trying to be responsive to what young people need at a time when they are facing incredible challenges is just it's such a gift and I think it's very unique and special. She just brings so much heart and compassion to her job it's palpable. Certainly the person that I would want to walk alongside myself for my child if we were in the hospital I just feel like she's so deserving of this award I'm glad she's getting the recognition. So snippet is I guess so we are so honored to recognize you and congratulations on your little one. Sarah your fierce advocacy and your willingness to always go the extra mile on behalf of the young people you serve and your commitment to respectful just and equitable treatment for all has improved the health safety and well-being of children youth and families. Snip congratulations. I also have nothing prepared because everything's making me cry these days and I cannot string a sentence together for the life of me and I'm pretty exhausted but I'm just I don't really have the language honestly to describe how grateful I am for this I feel like my career starting at NFI and then landing at UVM has been profoundly impactful to who I am as a human and who I am as a professional which I think are hand in hand and I think my fierce commitment to telling the truth and speaking on behalf of others and amplifying voices has just gotten stronger and braver and the UVM Children's Hospital has really supported my commitment to just doing the right thing making good trouble which is something I often say thank you John Lewis so just thank you thank you to my mentors thank you to my work family I'm going to cry you know all my people who have just like endlessly stood by me and just know that I'm trying to do the right thing and they believe in me and that means the world so thank you very much everybody thank you Sarah I just want to as the photos being taken at my youngest son who's five uh we were joking around playing around yesterday and he said daddy how do you how can you carry me like a baby and I said sure but then I remembered like when I used to carry him with a baby I used to wear the Moby wrap all the time which was the most comfortable for me and uh to see Sarah and a baby in the Moby is that a Moby wrap oh and no so so they are but I got it down to a science I got it down to this the only only baby carry that I could wear but I could imagine me being on stage right now with my five-year-old tucked into a Moby wrap he's doing that I might just try that tonight I might try tonight try to feed them do all that stuff um so uh remember to the people in the zoom chat that you you can I'm just going to remind you that you can comment in the chats for all the awardees and honorees tonight this morning um so we this is we did it we're doing it all right all right all right I did it I'm not nervous anymore ah it just took two hours no so for our final award KidsSafe is honoring uh Gabay Tufo Strauss Community Outreach Director at King Street Center with and with the Genesis Months Prevention Award Gabay is a compassionate leader whom we will hear more about from her current and former King Street colleagues uh Dacia Ausland, Shabnam, Nolan and Vicki Smith as well as Chad Butt from Mentor Vermont when I think about all of her many years of service and dedication what comes to mind for me is how much she's just invested in kids in our community I deeply believe that her dedication and work over these years is the reason why so many kids in our community feel connected feel like they have a trusted adult have fun and support and um know that this community cares about them and day in and day out I see mentors being matched with children at King Street and I see Gabay support not just the children here but the mentors in a way that really builds deep connection both among children and adults but also to our community I think that Gabay is incredibly deliberate and intentional about her matches I have a deep respect for Gabay for her it's about connection it's it is life changing it is lifelong her contribution and impact has changed people's lives I think what makes Gabay so deserving of this award is her understanding of what it really takes to make an individual child succeed in life and how that can vary from child to child so many children are succeeding because of the support of their mentor and the support that they're receiving from Gabay I think that it's really her positive attitude and her enthusiasm and her humor and her genuine care that comes out in such a loving shining way that kids and and people in general are just really drawn to her Gabay Gabriela so deserving of this award on so many levels first of all as a person she is one of the most compassionate non-judgmental enthusiastic kid and family persons I know she's she's just there 100% very present when you are with her she makes you feel that you matter that kids matter parents matter and colleagues matter she has been a long term beloved employee of King Street Center her other hat at King Street Center has really been cultivating a large volunteer presence and help our work enhance it she is awesome she's been a mentor for so many people within this field working with youth throughout Vermont going beyond the walls of King Street her impact has really been felt throughout the state of Vermont I've had the pleasure of being a mentor actually in the program Gabay runs through King Street the young man I'd been mentoring for for many years for 10 plus years and I were actually actually looking at mentoring a child together and Gabay you know said hey let's figure this out so I've been mentoring with King Street over the last five years and having the privilege of actually seeing Gabay working with her not only from the perspective of mentor Vermont but from a mentor in her program when you talk with Gabay you know she's always present she's always you always feel like she's there just for you and working with you to figure out how she can best support you and knowing that I'm one of 60 to 80 different mentors that she's working with it's just incredible when you take a step back and look at the amount of individuals she's worked with over the course of her career how many lives she's touched Gabriella we went formal on the name here you're positive and an unwavering commitment to making sure children have what they need to succeed and your leadership and dedication to implementing quality youth mentoring has improved the lives of countless children and youth and their mentors and families in our community Gabay congratulations that was really touching so thank you to my King Street team I'd like to thank the kids safe staff for selecting me as one of the six nominees and today Shia Oslin, Shabem Nolan, Chad Butt and Vicki Smith for nominating me I'd like to congratulate all the other nominees I'm truly humbled to be selected as one of the winners and stand here among all of you who go above and beyond in your work each and every day to support kids families and our community I grew up in a loving supportive family with parents who gave me unconditional love and guidance they demonstrated to me what it means to be compassionate and accepting of all people and cultures so it's no surprise that much of my work is about cultivating relationships with kids families volunteers and community at my core I love surrounding myself with people and find joy in expressing and experiencing new places communities cultures and traditions I work to help a family find a home because I believe that everyone deserves a home to and without their basic needs they cannot rebuild their life I strive to find the perfect mentor or book buddy to match with a child I enjoy conversations with volunteers who want a teen or intern starts my office to simply just talk no one person can do this alone it takes a team working together to support kids and families we must remember that kids live with them families and families within communities and it takes a team to provide a safe healthy environment for children and families where children are given the opportunities and securities to flourish and grow it means breaking down barriers that stand the way of kids and families and getting their basic needs met a little over a year ago I went with a king street father and his children to bring their family dog Roxy to the humane society because they were about to be evicted and had to be lingers their beloved pet teary eyed he said it's not fair that we have to give up Roxy who is family it wasn't fair it wasn't fair that in a few days they would be on house and that it would take a year to find them housing the other day the father texted me to tell me that their beloved Roxy died of cancer he just needed someone to listen it is these trusting relationships to establish a bond that opens up the doors to help strengthen families when a family feels heard their strengths valued and there is trust they reach out not just when in need but to stay connected these moments along with being able to work with people of all ages socioeconomic status ethnicities and various life experiences is what drives my work the past 28 years at king street have gone by in a blink a journey filled with many of life lessons joy celebration hardships heartaches and friendships I would like to thank my king street team my mom and James who are here to support me and to all of you for all the work that you do each and every day to strengthen kids and families so thank you so that kind of took my breath away and just made me made me really really realize and again appreciate these awards it's just such an honor to hear from people doing such amazing work in our community and some of them I know and we work together and some we don't and even when you do I've known Gaby for many years and just to hear about the the work that she does and the impact that she has on families and everyone here today it's humbling so I'd like to ask you to give everyone a round of applause they don't leave yet because Marlon's going to announce the raffle winner soon but I also just want to take this moment to thank Marlon for em seeing he was nervous can you believe it he's a pro and he did such a great job and we've learned from Dr. first doing this for many years to stay on time and Marlon geez you have met the challenge so ahead of time we're ahead so thank you to all of you for being here and Marlon wrap it up yep before before so the raffle to the sports I'm going to ask the winner of the the quilt this is actually really this is this means a lot to me that I get to present the quilt to the raffle winner my former supervisor when I was at DCF Beth Bolio come on up and get this quick Beth is also wearing purple I don't know we could we coordinated with this my bow tie and all that stuff so thank you Beth so much oh and a huge thank you to all the volunteers who's hard of work and dedication helped us pull this amazing event off and some of them are here today so please stand up so we can recognize you volunteers where you at thank you so much and finally another congratulations to all the awardees and the attendees that are here today are in the virtual world with us who join online to share this celebration and thank you all for coming here today and someone said something that about one of the awardees and it's something that we talk about in my work it's being a force for good and so when you leave here today remember be a force for good and thank you so much