 Good afternoon and welcome to the 32nd annual Kids Safe Awards. We are so excited to be here with you. I want to thank Henhouse Media. You can go ahead and give them a little hand. I also want to thank Cindy Freeman who's in the room with us taking some pictures of folks here in the room. We are going to be live streaming and that's got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you can be home watching this from your pajama bottoms and we're not going to see that and that's a fabulous thing. The bad news is we're not going to be able to see you or hear you in the same way that we would normally see you or hear you. If you're watching from home, please feel free to write something in the chat. Give us some shout outs. Just let us know that you're there. Let the recipients know that you support them and you love them and we would love to see that. For those of you that don't know where the chat is in a webinar, we've got a team of millennials standing by for your phone calls. Call 1-800-MILLENIAL and they will help you to work through the chat issues. We have some live folks in the room with us so it's think of it kind of like the Oscars the other night. You're watching, people are watching from around the globe but we've also got some folks here in the room with us. We want to give a giant shout out again to Henhouse Media who is making this happen for us and so please give it up folks in the room for Henhouse Media. It would not be the kids safe awards without an auction and so yes, we are having an auction. We are doing our silent auction which this year of course will be very silent because you'll be doing it from your home. Our silent auction is going to run until Thursday, April 29th. So if you haven't had a chance to bid on some of those fabulous items that you saw earlier when you were waiting. When you're sitting in bed and you're thinking about going down that Amazon path thinking when am I going to be able to get those solar powered mason jars for my back deck. You know what? You don't need those. What you need is to support kids safe. So you can do that from the privacy of your home anytime over the next couple of days leading up until April 29. Today, right now, we are going to raffle off this fabulous quilt. I'd pick it up, but I'm afraid that I will break it so you can go ahead and bid on that while we're here in the room. And so if you'd like to make a bid and you haven't, we are going to pull the winner of that sometime later on during the program. Okay, now, let me introduce lots of different people before we get to the awards because again we're going to do this like the Oscars and so I think the awards part will start to happen like 11pm tonight. Very honored to for us to hear from Cindy Olson, who is the kids safe board president Cindy joined the board in 2013 and has served as the board president since 2018. Please welcome via video Cindy also joining us and welcome to the 32nd annual service award celebration. While we cannot be together at a large gathering this year, we are grateful to be able to bring you the live stream presentation of the awards and celebrate the kids safe honorees. I joined the board eight years ago because I understood not only how important it is to keep children and youth safe from harm, but also that preventing child abuse and neglect takes all of us working together. Kids safe is always putting the welfare of children first and foremost. Now I'd like to thank our active board members. I am honored to serve with Jeff Moran who has been our longtime board treasurer, Carolyn Smith, our immediate past president, and fellow members Darcy Allard, Aaron Chastinay, Andrea Dion, Shereen Hart, Wanda Kiyoshan, Denise Myers, Pauline Tyler, Sue Victory, Margaret Vincent, and Beth Wormann. Thank you. There are dozens of wonderful businesses in our community that have championed the celebration, both by giving to the awards and donating to the online auction. We thank them for their contributions because of them all proceeds from this event directly support the work of kids safe collaborative. Now I look forward like you to hearing more about all of our honorees and celebrating their outstanding service to our community. So, thank you so much to Cindy Olsen prior to Cindy's presidency. I like the way that sounds Cindy's presidency. Right. We're so close. We're so close. Jay Fiat held position. He's an honorary board member. He's the president of PC construction, and he's this year's presenting sponsors so please thank you so much to Jay for supporting the work, and let's hear from Jay. Hey everyone, my name is Jay Fiat, and I'd like to say a few words about my dear friend, Sally board and kids safe collaborative and the incredible and tireless work she and kids safe have done in our communities for our most vulnerable population, our kids. I had the honor of serving on the kids safe board with Sally from 2005 to 2015. And my friendship with Sally and my connection to kids safe have held on strong. In fact, stronger than ever. I am so honored to be able to recognize Sally and the great work of kids safe. And to this year's outstanding service award recipients. I am privileged to have worked with her and to have contributed in small ways to her work and that of kids safe. What an honor it has been. And what important work that they do. I'm also passionate about protecting our children and our most vulnerable youth. And I'm also humbled to be PC construction CEO and able to steer some of our charitable dollars to Sally's and kids safe vital and worthy efforts. Sally doesn't know this yet. But in honor of Sally, PC will continue to contribute $10,000 to kids safe annual luncheon. Over for the next four years in honor of kids safe work. In honor of kids safe outstanding service award recipients work, and in honor of Sally board and work. Sally Gordon. Thank you kids safe collaborative. And thank you to today's outstanding service award recipients for your incredible work and dedication to improving the lives of others. So much to Jay and thank you all to our generous generous sponsors, the University of Vermont Children's Hospital has been a sponsor for many, many years, and we continue to appreciate their support. We continue to appreciate Dr. Lewis first contribution to everything that kids safe does. We're going to hear a little more about Dr. Lewis first in a few minutes. The physicians computer company, New England Federal Credit Union and Peds one. Thank you so much for all of your support. Thank you folks in the room today we've got some dignitaries watching virtually Diane Derby from Senator Leahy's office Katrina was ours from Senator Sanders office and Brooke Rams from Congressman Peter Welsh's office. Please welcome Congressman Peter Welsh and his message to all of our award recipients. Thanks to kids safe and having your annual kids safe collaborative service award. We'd all prefer to be together. COVID won't allow that to happen. But what you didn't allow to happen is to have COVID get in the way of providing the care in the services to Vermont kids who really, really needed it. It's not visible to many from honors, but important, really crucial to the Vermont children that you helped. So I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to every one of the awardees for the services that you have provided during this very difficult time to Vermont's children. Thank you. Okay. Without any further ado, I want to introduce the person who I spoke with that about seven o'clock this morning to say, Hey, what are you wearing. And she said I'm going to wear that sort of light powder blue kind of aqua thing and I was like great, I will wear the same thing so we can match. Sally Borden has been the executive director of kids safe for 23 years. She joined the organization in 1998 when she was 11. And she became the executive director in 2001. Throughout that period of time, Sally continues to be a guiding light for professionals in Vermont. She continues to acknowledge the hard work of all human service agencies, and she does it with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Please, please, please give a warm welcome to Sally Borden. Oh, thank you, Sue. Yeah, when I was 11. Thank you. Well, I met Sue probably 20 years ago so I don't know. I was sick, we were at the time. Okay, well thank you Sue. Thank you Congressman Welch. And my goodness, Jay Fayette. Wow, just wow. I am almost, but not quite speechless. So truly thank you for your kind words and for your support over these many years, both personally and that of PC construction. And what a tremendous gift, generous gift to kids safe collaborative from PC construction. So thank you and what a fantastic way to honor our awardees and our work here at kids safe collaborative. And he's one of our honorary board members just a quick shout out to our other two Dr. Lewis first. And you know we'll be throwing a few accolades his way a little later on, and also Dr. Joe Hagan who we honored at this very event just a couple of years ago. Yeah, I want to thank Sue Schmidt as well for her time here today as our MC. She's a fantastic MC as you see and if I'm at a loss for words I know she'll fill in so I'm good with that. And we were recalling yesterday how far back we go in this field of work so thanks Sue for honoring us with your service as our MC. Again today I think next year. Dr. Lewis first is going to boot you again you know out you go but I'm good with that. Yeah, I'm so okay with that he wants to boot me at some point no no stay where you are. So this is our 32nd year presenting these awards as you heard and I've been here for yikes 23 of those. But you know it never gets old, the awardees that we have the honor of recognizing are always so inspiring. And this year is no exception what a privilege it is to get to recognize all of you today. Especially during April which is child abuse prevention month. I also want to take a moment to recognize all of you, those of you that are joining us today via zoom. And his work each and every day are part of the fabric that we weave as a community to make sure that all children are safe and healthy and well cared for. Whether you're a teacher, or a child care provider, a therapist, a physical therapist, a legislator, a doctor, a social worker or a judge or a parent or a relative caring for a child. Each and every one of you makes a difference. Keeping kids safe and well cared for took on new meaning this year. Suddenly we were grappling with a dangerous pandemic affecting all of us and threatening our collective health. And we also saw the personal toll that it took on our kids on schools on families, remote schooling, isolation, mental health challenges affecting our kids. We worry too that reports of maltreatment dropped when kids weren't in school and in childcare places where teachers and other caring adults might provide a safe refuge might see and report concerns. We're now starting to reestablish our connections and for the most part kids are back in school but the effects will be felt for a long time to come. And this past year to our country and our own communities grappled with racial injustice with racism and inequities in the very systems that we look to as a society. Issues which profoundly affect kids. Not that these are new, but this past year has brought these issues to the forefront in many ways, not the least of which was just last week. We at kids safe collaborative and our partner organizations who started to look more deeply at ourselves as an organization, as well as the systems that we're entrusted to improve. Taking a look at data at policies that practices with a new lens and doing the hard work to address racial inequities and biases. But after all could be more fundamental to the health, safety and well being of our kids than one in which all kids can walk through their lives, free of bias, free of hate, free of violence. Our work to improve the lives of our children and youth is cut out for all of us. At the same time, this past year has brought many bright moments, many, some amazing accomplishments and sometimes unheralded acts that really make a difference. For example, we at kids safe collect the collaborative collected hundreds of masks, homemade masks. Excuse me, thanks to the many volunteers who answered our call. We were able to get them to DCF so that they could get them to families for whom it was so important for them to stay safe and healthy. And our partner organizations like us started working remotely but they continue to connect with kids and families to find ways to reach them to support them free meals were distributed for kids. Food pickup sites were established hotels were repurposed to house. Those who don't have stable housing and frontline workers in our hospital in our crisis mental health services, youth services, continued to make sure that kids got what they needed, safe and distanced. All of these things are the daily occurrences that happen all around us. All the kinds of things that we're here to celebrate today. Our awardees are in fact, miracle workers, each and every one of them. I'm excited for all of us to hear about their work and to recognize the shining stars that they are. I want to take one more minute to recognize a few shining stars of our own, because without them we wouldn't be here today. Our small but mighty kids safe collaborative staff, they carried a lot of extra work this past year as many of you know I was dealing with my own health issues, and they're the ones that really made this all happen today. So a huge thank you to Lisa Simon, Elise Amy, and to our longtime colleague, Penny Tompkins. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thank you, Sally. So we're going to get started. We're going to give out some awards. Imagine that as we begin, let me let you know how this is going to flow. I'm going to introduce the award. I'm going to let you know who is receiving that award. We are going to hear from the person that has nominated that person for the award that may be live in the room it may be a video stream. We're going to hear from the person that is accepting the award, either live here, or via video stream. So our first award is for an outstanding collaboration. This award is given to the team of folks who has had a significant impact in children and families through a collaborative process. The team this year has provided immeasurable benefit during the COVID-19 health crisis. Accepting this award on behalf of the entire COVID-19 team are co-leaders, Dr. Wendy Davis, Professor of Pediatrics, and Dr. Brina Holmes. Before that happens, here to tell you a little bit about the incredible team are pediatrician Dr. Becca Bell, Stephanie Winters, the Executive Director of the Vermont Chapter of American Pediatrics. The V-CHIP team has really just enabled the pediatric community to have the most up to date information to provide their patients with the best care possible. When I think back to this time last year, I remember I reached out to Wendy Davis and Brina Holmes, because I as the chapter president of the AP was getting emails from pediatricians saying, you know, what does this mean for kids she just said, Don't worry, V-CHIP's got this. They're just able to stay on top of things real time, which is an amazing feat, the amount of preparation, the amount of work that it takes to put together one of these calls is just really unfathomable. Nobody else in the country has something like this. Like all of my pediatrician colleagues from elsewhere are so really jealous of this kind of support that we have. Wendy and Brina are the face of these calls, and they have just been an amazing support to the pediatric community from the pediatricians which I work with to the children and families to pediatricians of this call. And not only about COVID, you know, we've talked on these calls about racial inequities and biases in Vermont. And so this call has really been far reaching. Wendy and Brina are, they've always been true leaders in the child health world. And I think what everyone really appreciates about them is that they're not just thinking just about what happens in the pediatrician's office. This is about how do we support kids this summer? This is how do we support child care centers and schools? And how are kids doing mental health-wise? And let's get some mental health providers on this call, the next call, because not seeing tons and tons of COVID early on, you know, what I'm seeing is mental health issues, and I'm seeing food and security issues, like what can we do about that? So there was a real leadership in saying, let's address everything about around the child. They started out every, I think almost every day at the beginning of the pandemic, and now they're still three days a week. And the same number of people are logging in and really talking to each other, really benefiting from the knowledge that they gain from each other. This coming together of the pediatric community has just been so unique and so Vermont, and I'm so proud to be part of it. Before we get a chance to hear from the award recipients, we are very honored that we have someone joining us to give a special message to Dr. Holmes and to Dr. Davis. I will tell you that every night during the pandemic, my sons and I would gather for dinner and we would light the Fauci at our table in honor of the good work that was happening in science. And somewhere midway into the pandemic, we actually renamed the Fauci the Fauci Levine. And now at night when we gather, we light the Fauci Levine. So please welcome from the Department of Health, our Commissioner, Dr. Mark Levine. I am thrilled to be able to offer my perspective and most importantly congratulations to the entire COVID-19 team for receiving the Kids Safe Outstanding Collaboration Award. We're presenting yet another phase in the long-standing partnership between VDH, VCHIP, and its CHAMP program. It would be challenging to find a more unique and outstanding example of such a tremendous effort to support the health and safety of children, families and practitioners all at once over the past year. To be sure, this is about an entire COVID-19 team, but clearly leadership matters. It all starts with unstoppable passion for all things connected to children and an ability to translate that into powerful, pragmatic and responsive programming for professionals that recognizes the power of collaboration. It takes a village dogma, the need for planning, but also spur of the moment responsiveness and the importance of sustaining strong relationships. Drs. Wendy Davis and Brina Holmes have so capably represented and personified the good work of VCHIP, CHAMP, and VDH. Wendy and Brina mobilized this effort through developing collaborative webinars and phone calls to provide up-to-date accurate real-time information to the community of practitioners invested in our children's welfare. Pediatricians, nurse practitioners, school nurses, child services providers. A community who found this so valuable that they kept coming back for more, multiple times a week calls that I am told have a healing and resilience-building quality at all levels from the caregiving community down to families and children. And they truly embodied the word collaborative, as the webinars drew on the organizer's own expertise and content knowledge, but involved other experts as well. As they delved into issues ranging from the purely clinical and epidemiological abundance of COVID topics to the education sector, supporting educators in school reopening and the afterschool third space, to childcare, to health equity matters. All building upon a foundation of a rich, time-honored and innovative tradition of integrating clinical medicine, primary care, and public health, which I have been a proud partner and participant in. The pace of this group's efforts matched the frenetic nature of the pandemic itself because kids and families' care, welfare, lives, and safety were all at stake. Wendy, Brina, and the entire COVID-19 team, let me express the appreciation of the Vermont Department of Health and the state of Vermont for how much your work has truly made a difference and impacted Vermonters. And again, offer my heartfelt congratulations. So I would like to share with you all the award that we'll be presenting today to Dr. Davis and afterwards to Dr. Holmes and to the entire COVID-19 team. And with many thanks to Dr. Levine for that lovely tribute. COVID-19 team, your leadership in responding to the pandemic, providing timely and vital information to the pediatric community and beyond via webinar calls multiple times per week has immeasurably improved the health and safety of Vermont's children and families. Wendy, I'd like to invite you to come on up, say a few remarks, and then to pick up your award. Thank you. Thank you, Sally. Thank you, Sue. Thank you, Dr. Levine. And that was indeed a surprise. I thought I had the flow down and they left out that little step, but I'm going to try to carry on. So good afternoon, everyone. And on behalf of my colleague Dr. Brina Holmes and our amazing teams, including Mickey Beach, who was at our table in the back there. And also our entire VCHIP team in the Department of Pediatrics at the UVM College of Medicine and the Vermont Department of Health. We thank you so very much for the tremendous honor of this outstanding collaboration award. And thank you to Stephanie Winters and Becca Bell as well for your kind and thoughtful nomination. Well, Brina and I appreciate being the faces of this work. The name of our award collaboration really says it all. The collaboration across a huge circle of partners across Vermont has been possible because of the decade long history of public health and health care integration that Dr. Levine referenced. And this is really throughout the child and family health community, but we stand on the shoulders of some giants who came before us to lay that foundation people like Patricia Barry from the Health Department and Paula Duncan from the Department of Pediatrics. It exists because of our leadership. Dr. Lewis first, who I'm excited to help honor later today, our Executive Director Judy Shaw at VCHIP, our Assistant Director Rachel Como, and of course Health Commissioner Mark Levine at the Health Department. But the work could not have happened without our teams and very specifically Mickey, also Avery Rasmussen, Angelusino, Christine Pellegrino, but really there is no one at VCHIP that has not contributed to this effort. Since last March, our team members' unflappable nature and professionalism has allowed us to roll through 177 calls as of yesterday. And this was despite the many technical and technological challenges that you all have no doubt experienced as well trying to work remotely and meet virtually. But mostly these calls are a success thanks to the engagement of the almost 700 individuals from all over Vermont who care so deeply about the health and well-being of our children and families that they've taken time out of their busy schedules on more than one occasion to be part of our calls. And as I hand the mic to Brina, I know I speak for our entire team in echoing what Stephanie said in the video. We are so proud to be part of something so unique and so Vermont. Thanks Wendy. Hi everyone. I too was surprised by Dr. Levine and his remarks. So that was very moving for me. I have been extremely grateful to work with him for the last four years and most especially during COVID. I just want to echo everything Wendy said and then add a little bit of depth to the health department side of the gratitude. We have extraordinary MCH director who took over after my departure, Elisa Stahlberg. She's leading epidemiology operations as well as the school and childcare branch. Big thanks to Elisa and the school and childcare branch answers calls all day every day to try to keep our childcare providers and school staff up to date and informed about COVID and COVID prevention so that we can keep having important opportunities for children and youth. Big shout out to Nathaniel Waite as the leader of that team. So I'll just end by saying that the VCHIP team is, I've learned so much about you, most especially your resilience and your tireless efforts to get these calls pulled off through all sorts of challenges. And I'm so grateful to be a part of this big day and all the other awardees. Thank you. I'm going to definitely need to get a bigger candle, apparently. Congratulations again to the team that helps keep us safe. Special shout out to Wendy Davis who I've also known for a very long time because she was my son's pediatrician. Yeah. Yeah, so thank you so much to that team. We're excited for you to be a recipient this year. We're going to move on to our next award, which is the kids safe 2021 promising professional award to hear more about this year's recipient, who is Kelsey Conroy and I believe Kelsey might be in the room with us in the room where it's happening. Please welcome Shelly McSweeney Luns family educator and the recipient of the kids safe 2019 Outstanding Professional Award. Amy Woodruff Luns residential clinical care coordinator and Portia, a LUN participant who has had the benefit of Kelsey's ongoing support through her journey. I think one of the things that is so striking about Kelsey is her, her vibe, Kelsey, Kelsey is so laid back and so kind of unflappable and she just presents with this warmth and this beautiful presence and she also brings a lot of joy to the work. Her entire being with clients is always calm and collected. When they need that support, they're reaching out to her because she knows that she's going to listen to them, and then she's going to validate them. And then, you know, she's going to look at problem solving for them, if possible, and if she doesn't know, she figures it out and that is always the go to for her. And so for every family, it's different work, which she loves and thrives off from. The experience with Kelsey started years ago. I spent two, two different times at Lund. She put in a lot of work with my family and she is able to keep a calm demeanor when things are not always great. She is amazing at advocating for people and assisting people and managing things from court paperwork to coming up with ideas for the children and appointments. She's created calendars with me. She's there for me and my children and I know that. She doesn't come in with a kind of a big agenda and a big ego. She comes in more from a, well, how can I help? And with really hard stuff and she has this way about her that is so non-judgmental. And it allows clients to, you know, to begin to do the hard work that they need to do and she's right there on the journey with them. And just in her really quiet, gentle way or she'd show up with a bike in the back of her car or she'd show up with, you know, extra play-doh that she found or she knew so and so needed a car seat, somebody needed summer clothes and being kind of quietly and steadfastly with them all the way, really all the way. Kelsey, I'm so moving. It's like you make a difference for kids and families every day and really that's a greater gift you couldn't give. Your calm compassion and warmth combined with your whatever it takes approach to providing support and advocacy has significantly improved the health, safety, and well-being of children and families in our community. Thank you, Kelsey. You can invite you to come on up and then on our way back, you can pick up your award and we'll go off to the side. Thank you so much for this recognition. It's an honor to accept this award. I first came to Lund nearly nine years ago, which at times feels like a lifetime and in other ways feels like yesterday. I started as a residential counselor, went back to grad school and landed in this position as a family engagement specialist where I've been ever since. So much of who I am as a professional has been shaped by Amy, Brian and Shelley, my nominators for this award. I'm so grateful I've gotten to work alongside each one of them learning as I go. This role has taken me from Enesburg to Utica, New York to Brattleboro and Springfield. I travel to meet with families no matter where they moved to in Vermont and no matter how they left the residential program to eat to help ease their transition back into the community. I also get to work with other family members, whether this be a dad of a child in the residential program or an aunt who is the biggest supporter of her niece. I love the ever changing ways I get to engage with families. The pandemic highlighted this and pushed me to think outside the box to help meet the needs of the families I work with. This meant delivering boxes of food, organizing a lunch staycation at the beach for residential families, going on socially distanced walks with moms in need of some in person adult interaction, or ensuring families in quarantine had the basic care items they needed to get by. In residential, we see clients for a brief period of their life, and at times it's during some of the harder moments of their life. In my role, I get to be there during the hard times, but then watch as they continue to grow and flourish outside of lunch. Sometimes it's the little successes that stand out the most, like getting to watch a dad graduate from treatment court, or celebrating with someone who regained custody of her child, or getting to cheer from the sidelines as a mom runs her first marathon, or navigating or navigates her way through a first internship, or getting to listen to a client from years past, attend alumni group, a weekly group by facility and discuss the boundaries they continue to hold to keep their family safe. This work wouldn't be possible without the support guidance and teamwork from my coworkers. I have learned so much, not only from my coworkers, but also from the families I have worked with along the way. Thank you again for the recognition with this award. Congratulations, Kelsey. And congratulations to Kelsey's I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Kelsey's parents are in the room is that what I'd be right about that. They did a great job. Thank you so much, Kelsey. Congratulations. There's still time to bid on this fabulous quilt that you see behind me at some point we're going to close the bidding but that is not happening yet. So please do go on bid for the quilt. We'll let you know who wins that next. The next award is the outstanding professional award, and this award recipient this year is the director of student support services at Colchester High School. She has devoted her career in education to improving the lives of students and creating an environment where programs are available to serve what is ever in the best need of those students. She is being nominated this year by Kerry Lutz, the director of student services at Colchester High School, Amy Minor, the superintendent at Colchester School District and Corporal Mark Jacobs from the Colchester Police Department. Please welcome as we hear from them. She serves as the director of student support services at Colchester High School. She goes the extra step to make sure that every student in Colchester is known that they feel safe and welcomed. She just showed how caring of a person she is. She would go beyond what I would look at as, you know, when we are a law enforcement officer you go from call to call to call. Gene would take that extra step in working with a student, making sure their well-being, their health, their safety all comes into play. I think she has a big role in the safety and well-being and health of students in Colchester, and I see, you know, one of her, I think attributes to lead her to be a big part of that I think is her ability to connect and make relationships and then back that up with really having the hard conversations. I have seen Gene find the good in every single student and as a result, I feel like that's really rubbed off on our staff at Colchester High School. She just embodies this spirit that no matter who you are, there's always room for growth and there's always this moment where when folks are struggling, Gene finds the positive. And I've seen that change the tone of a meeting to make teachers and families and students know even though we're working through a really challenging situation, there's good here. There's learning here and no matter what a student does in that building, they are still a very important member of our school community and the way Gene communicates with folks really leaves you with that message that she deeply cares. And I think the other really kind of cool thing is that as an administrator, she still has that excitement of working with kids and you can see her in the hallway interacting with kids. She goes to the sports games, kids seek her out and, you know, they want her to be a part of their team. She's a big proponent for a team approach. She wants to get as many heads together as she can to try to figure out what the best avenue is to try to support a student with whatever struggles they have, be it in the community or if it's in school. As a result of the pandemic, Gene took some steps that were really important for many students in our school community. She zoomed with individual students to make sure that they had their needs met. She emailed families to make sure that students they didn't need an extra check-in. And I know after speaking with many of them, they have appreciated greatly those extra steps and availability that she has provided. Gene has been doing this for a long time and, you know, when we do things for a long time, sometimes there is burnout and I just don't see Gene's engine ever burning out. Gene, what a difference you're making. Thank you. I'd like to share with you Gene's award, your strong commitment to making sure all students feel welcome, heard, safe and valued, and your dedication to ensuring that students have what they need to succeed has positively impacted the safety and well-being of children, youth and families in our community. Gene, I don't know, is the mics probably not high enough for my height, right? Thank you to KidsSafe Collaborative for this recognition, as well as those who nominated me. You know, it's a funny thing when you hear from your colleagues that you have modeled your whole entire career after to hear that you have earned their respect, is a humbling experience, and I will really treasure those words. I am really blessed every day to do the work that I do, and actually that all of us in this room and those of you on camera, the work that we do every day. There's nothing more rewarding than being involved in decisions that impact our youth in positive ways. As you know, this incredibly rewarding work can be tremendously exhausting as well. There are days that the bolder we are pushing, goes up the mountain, three large pushes, and rolls back five. You know, the older I get, the more I realize that I actually don't really know anything. So when my colleagues speak about my collaboration, they don't realize that actually, I'm just using them to feel smart. But really, in all seriousness, with their heads, their problem solving, and their ability to collaborate, and all the others that I am so fortunate to team with, they allow me to come back every day, and push that bolder again, and again, and again, no matter how many times it may roll back into us. Our compass North must always be doing what's best for every single student and youth that we interact with. There just is no other way. I appreciate this award and I'm truly, truly honored. I would like to acknowledge though that this award is only possible because of the incredible people that I work with this award is for all of us at Colchester High School and throughout the district. I could not do it without each and every single one of you. Thank you very much. I think we would echo that across the state for all educators and certainly Jean is a beam of light in this last year for folks when I don't know about your kids but my kids didn't get as much done academically as I would have liked them to this year, and wouldn't have gotten anything done had it not been for folks like Jean so thank you so much to Jean and all the educators in our community, especially for this year. Before we get to our next award. I just want to acknowledge that we have gained so much in this last year and we have also lost a lot. We lost to very important people in our state this last year. Lynn Granger, who was the president for many years of the Vermont kin as parents organization left us and Marion Paris at the Department for Children and Families. And I think we know that if we knew Lynn and Marion that they will likely be somewhere in heaven arguing with each other about the correct way to do something. We know that Marion would likely win that argument because of who Marion was, but we also know that both of these individuals would have been doing what they did best, which was advocating for the kids and families in the state of Vermont, and we will miss them greatly. Our next presentation is the Gregory C. Packen Award for Children's Advocacy. Greg Rick Packen was an attorney and a passionate legal advocate and the thing if you knew Greg at all the thing that you loved the most about him was that he was not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, if it was in the best interest of children. The 2021 recipient is somewhat like that. This is the former commissioner for the Vermont Department of Children and Families. Mr Ken shats here to tell us more about the course of Ken's work over the last several years, and what a positive and incredible impact. He has had for children and families are Karen bastine Leslie wins wisdom Karen Shay, and Dr Joe Hagan. The impact on children and youth in Vermont and especially in Timon County goes back a number of decades. Ken was one of the principal founders of the first Community Justice Center in Burlington. The Community Justice Center was also the first to have a youth specific program where there was restorative justice panel I believe it still exists that is staffed and led by youth themselves. What was so important to Ken was to use innovation and relationship as a way to support children and making better decisions. And was instrumental in helping to establish a new process for children who were being treated at one side. One of the things I will say about Ken is he was masterful in his leadership in terms of balancing best practice and innovation and workforce support. I think Ken really understood deeply that in child welfare and youth justice your workforce is your greatest asset, and it's the only avenue through which you can achieve positive outcomes for children and families so I think that he really understood the well process that if you engage with your staff if you help them to to find the best within them that they in turn will work right to find the best within the children and families that they're serving. All of his years as commissioner to being proactive and was a staunch advocate for for always ensuring positive change. I was very shy to away from sitting with people that they didn't like what you were doing and and learning from that we can't always fix things for people and we can hear them out and I think it's also incredibly important. When you're when you work at DCF and the family services division. We have emails that sometimes go out that say we have a child or you've been the hospital, and we need someone to sit with this child, I know Ken took more than one shift in hospitals over the weekend, just like being there I'm not even sure that Tony was there but just being there Commissioner chats into this job at a real difficult time. When the chat hits the ground running. One of the things can is how family centered Ken is. And I can remember, at least one time being in the intensive care unit with the child in custody, who was very ill. You know the commissioner then makes the decisions and can always said, what is the family want to do. I think Ken is the person with the most integrity and commitment that I've ever had the pleasure of working with but he was just always so down to earth and so accessible, no matter who was in the room. That is something that makes Ken incredibly special is that, no matter who you are you get his full attention, whether you're a member of the governor staff, or you know whether you're a youth who's spreading their wings and advocacy with the youth development program. The legacy he's leaving behind with all of the system changes that happened during the time he was commissioner will be felt for decades to come. He's really impacted the lives of children and families for generations I think. I'm so honored to be presenting this award to Ken who is someone I had the pleasure and have had the pleasure of working with during his time as commissioner and truly that impact cannot be overstated really it's a tremendous impact. And so Ken, in recognition of your career devoted to advocacy and leadership on behalf of children and youth, both systems focused and child and family focused, leaving a legacy of improved policies and practices that will continue to strengthen the safety and well being of children and families. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I really am very honored to be the recipient of this award. I just want to start by thank appreciating Sue and Sally for commemorating the passing of Lynn and Marion. They were both stalwart proponents for children's well being. I will also add unfortunately and passing of Amy Darley should also be noticed. Amy was formerly a staff person for Congressman Jeffords, and then for years has also been a member of the DCF Economic Service Division staff, continuing her work to support children. Thank you for that. I want to thank the kids safe collaborative leadership and and those nominated me for thinking me worthy of this award. The moment is particularly gratifying for me because I work with Greg packet at the beginning of my career, and he was a role model because of his commitment his thoughtfulness and his expertise in working with youth. So that is certainly feels particular honor. I do really appreciate all the nice things said about me, but the reality is and I think it's the nature of advocacy that I couldn't have accomplished anything alone. It required the work of so many other people moving discussing and making things happen, and I am really proud of my efforts to improve the juvenile justice and child welfare system, but never did it alone. The reality is those people that you heard from today that many of the people in this virtual room legislators and others, including my family really deserve the credit for moving the child welfare system and juvenile justice system forward in Vermont. We all need to be advocates for ourselves for our families, our coworkers, our clients and our communities. We really believe it's an important community value that we protect children support youth and families. There will always be differences of opinion about how exactly to go about that. But it's clear to me that we need to address poverty, housing, mental health, education, health care, substance abuse, and because it is a significant factor impacting all of those issues. We also need to continue to work to end systemic racism in our country. I do want to take a moment to thank and acknowledge DCF social workers and staff, because we asked them to be on the front lines to confront child abuse and neglect. It's an incredibly challenging role, we as a community ask of them. So many good people in addition working in so many different venues to improve the lives of their own families and their communities through their work and through their volunteer activities. We come from different experiences and different perspectives, but the bottom line for me is that we need to listen, respect and support each other. Thank you for everything. I want to appreciate kids safe contribution to this effort, and in addressing child abuse, and improving the well being of families. It is so important that this organization exists and keeps moving forward. It has been a privilege and honor to serve the people and community that is Vermont. Thank you. Thank you so much, and congratulations to Ken, who undoubtedly is sort of semi retired now. That is a tough job for everyone doing it so thank you so much. Our next award is a newer one for kids safe. And it's named in honor of one of our founding mothers, Janet month. For those of you that knew Janet you knew that she was the director of BNA maternal and child health. She was a state senator, and she was the founder of the community network for children and families. Janet was particularly interested in the importance of services for early childhood, which is why this next recipient is a very special one for Janet. My next award goes to lost my page. My next award. There it is. Janet asked mud prevention award that was the word I was looking for goes to Scotty Taylor, a pediatric therapist with the UVM health network home health. Scotty was nominated by two parents, Kate Van Wagner and Lou Mulvaney stank, who were so inspired by their work with their young child that they submitted this nomination. I want to share with you their enthusiasm for Scotty's unique skills, along with Scotty's colleagues, Rebecca grim and Megan Sidner, both with the UVM health network at home health. So when we first met Scotty, our kids Sam was needing some physical therapy and we were trying to help him. Basically learn how to even sit up. I mean, we were at the very beginning of our process with Scotty trying to figure out ways, even for a 12 month old to make it fun. And so our first time we met Scotty, we had these on, like Scotty showed up in her house we put these out and said we're ready to work Scotty brought them and we got an extra set hoping that Scotty would be someone who'd be willing to put on accessories and of course they were they were like, yeah, let's do this. And so what I feel Scotty helps celebrate the uniqueness of all children's and and families is that they are ready for anything that comes their way and home visiting you walk into situations and you never sure or sure is sort of what you're going to get and they have this ability to sort of enter a home enter a situation and be okay with what is there and launch from there. Always patient and kind, and one of the best listeners I know. Scotty has a really remarkable ability to speak with families honestly about their concerns with the child's development and needs, but also in a way that is compassionate and recognizes that parents and caregivers are really the primary person for this child. So Scotty creates trust with families and children to allow them to come back into the home to make recommendations to move their child to, you know, set boundaries is a beautiful thing that they have a very strong innate ability to do. They're technically skilled and they are an expert in their field and so confident and that inspires confidence in us, but also just so empathetic to also the experience of what it is to be a parent and trying to learn how to parent your kid best with these core values and something we want to make sure that Sam understood was this concept of consent and knowing that he's in charge of his own body and that everyone else's bodies needed to be respected in that way. So Scotty, his energy and his space and his emotional world, he learned to read Sam's cues, which were so tiny. Scotty was looking and listening for a yes and a no from Sam, helping his childcare teacher see that, and most importantly, reaffirming those and validating those directly to Sam. So what you are are welcome, given that we work with a really broad range of families, it models a sense of openness and a sense of acceptance that we all deserve and we all should be a part of what a terrific human to receive this award and to be recognized and they're also really funny and fun and ready. Hi Scotty. What a joy it's been to get to know Scotty via video and now in person. Congratulations Scotty. Your outstanding ability to center families to celebrate their uniqueness to apply your clinical skills, expertise and non judgmental approach in all you do has significantly improved the health, safety and well being of children and families in our community. Scotty congratulations. Wow. Hi. Thank you so much. I am not often speechless but this honor and those words. Wow. First, my fellow recipients. Congratulations to be standing alongside of you is a privilege. How lucky are we to be celebrated for our work and our passion. When people ask me what I do. I say, with no hesitation that I have my dream job, and I feel it is safe to assume you all would say the same. Congratulations to my nominators Sam Lou Kate. Your thoughtfulness and recommending me for this award is unparalleled. It's been my pleasure and my honor to join the Sam squad. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I sure wish I had my sweatband. Rebecca and Megan. Thank you. I would not be the clinician I am without the magic that you each carry and have shared with me from the moments we met Rebecca. You were the first person to hire me as a new grad, which I still try to claim 10 years later. Thank you for seeing me and Megan our collaboration and coordination is something I always look forward to to learn and grow from you as an honor. And with both of you I strive to be the best sponge possible just trying to soak up everything and anything I can from each of you. So thank you for your words. I've learned so much from so many people to be the clinician I am today. My parents who are here today have always fostered my independence and individuality, my siblings and I were raised to be strong vocal advocates. Follow our dreams exactly as they are, and they can always change. From that I learned invaluable skills that I show my families and children every single day so thank you. Thanks mom thanks dad, is what I was supposed to say. There are so many others who shaped me and inspire me each and every day Molly Ross Taren colleagues at UVM home health, my families I work with colleagues in the pediatric community. Any and every child I see are all inspiring seeing children as individuals is natural to me so to be seen and celebrated for that feels truly amazing, giving a child a prompt of I'm going to pick you up signifies so much more than just talking to them. I try to build their confidence their independence and moving and I foster whatever role they want to play in this world at its core that is respect and kindness and I think the world could use a lot more of that. Thank you. I feel like there's a theme forming that if you have good strong early parental love and encouragement. It kind of grows amazing humans when you think about that so thank you so much and congratulations again to Scott. Before we get to our next award. We are going to officially open baseball season, and here to throw out the first pitch from the kids safe team with the raffle winner for this fabulous quilt, please welcome, please. Here we go. Yeah, that was beautiful. The Mets really probably could use a little bit more on their bench. Okay. So, the winner of this fabulous clip. Thank you to everyone that contributed to the raffle we really appreciate your support. Penny Marsh assault march assault Penny. Yes, somebody knows any we'll get a picture of that. Perfect. Thank you so much. Before we move on to our final award, which is the lifetime achievement award, we have a very special congratulatory message. So please welcome Vermont senior senator Patrick Lake. You know, it's great to have everybody gathered for the kids safe collaboratives 30 second annual award ceremony. I want to thank you for all the great work you do to support our children and keep them safe. And myself and I would like to send out a special thanks to Sally Gordon. She's continued to lead this organization with such determination, even what we know are the most difficult of times. I congratulate all the awardees being honored today. I hope you especially let me recognize your lifetime achievement award. Dr. Lewis first. Dr. You've done so much help children and their parents navigate the world of pediatric medicine. You've also shown the importance of prevention. Your ability to relate these important lessons in a simple but a very direct fashion. In other words, in layman's terms, has undoubtedly helped many parents and their children lead healthier lives. So Vermont owes all of you, not just the award winners, but everyone who supports the work of kids say. Well, that sounds gratitude, but you do evolve or mothers. Thank you. We are thrilled to present our final award of the afternoon. There's not a person that has ever met him that doesn't have a story about him. So here's mine. When my son was four. He started watching Dr first on television. He wanted to get a little mini series to give safety tips. And so my son started to say things like, Mama, do you have your seat belt latched when we got in the car. I would say yes, I haven't even closed the door yet. Or before we get the bike out of the garage. Are you going to wear a helmet because Dr Lewis first says we should wear a helmet. One day he said, Mama, I want to talk about the importance of leafy greens. Dr first thinks this is important. It got to the point where I limited his television watching because Dr first was out parenting me on every level. And then one night when I was putting him to bed and it was a particularly difficult we were three or four hours in at that point. The phone rang and I went to answer the phone it was a friend of mine and I came back and my son said mama who was on the phone. And I said, it was Dr Lewis first. He immediately stopped his parkouring from the bed to the dresser, and he dove under those covers, like a heat seeking missile. And I never heard from him for the rest of the night. Dr Lewis first, on behalf of parents everywhere. We thank you. And we honor you today with this lifetime achievement award as the chief of pediatrics at the Vermont Children's Hospital, the chair of pediatrics at UVM learner medical medical school with the 2021 kids safe lifetime achievement award. Lewis first is the hardest working most dedicated person I know, particularly toward his his dedication and mission towards helping children. He had a vision that he could do something at this hospital in this leadership role at a very young age. So he came with with ideas for what we could do and he sent out to do them and he's accomplished them. And I think about Dr first I mean he is obviously a local hero. But I don't know that all of Vermont realizes what a national and an international pediatric presence Dr first has, but you wouldn't know that just by who he is meeting him here in Vermont, he's tireless. He works every day until 1am 2am. And he's up and firing again it must be 5am because I'm sometimes talking to him at 6am and and raring to go, but he's going at it with how can I help them today. He absolutely loves what he's doing considers this a mission to, to improve the health care of kids. He loves doing that. And I think that when you love what you're doing, you wake up really wanting to get in there and do it. He makes hospital rounds and checks in on everybody each day to this day, his international acclaim doesn't interfere with his ability to support each and every one of us as pediatricians interstate, as well as children and families. He's got a holistic view of how to protect and and care for children in the state of Vermont, and it takes a lot of commitment and dedication to the work and commitment to building a program and I think that that's exactly what Lewis first had in mind when he decided to go forward with building a child protection team at the hospital. Lewis as this wonderful person who has as a mission in life to help children has been able to do that and expand that through the development of the Vermont Children's Hospitals and collaboration. Family centered care is something Lewis is very strong in and really that's what pediatrics is about. You know, we learned that, you know, you are dealing with with not just a child you're dealing with a family you're dealing with it with both parents you're dealing with grandparents. When he is listening to a case presentation, he will almost always say to our trainees or to other attendings, how's the family doing, because how the child does depends on very much on how the families do. Dr first has always been such a strong supporter of embedding the voices of those with lived experience into the practices of our Children's Hospital to really ensure that we're meeting the needs of all of the patients and families within our community. Again, allowed us to support it really the expansion of patient with family centered care to include patients and families at the systems level at the at the quality improvement level, certainly an amazingly well rounded person, especially for somebody who puts 25 hours a day movies and and concerts Broadway he loves go down he takes a little break, you know, he's there that day he's back the next morning and somehow he saw Broadway play in between is a very loyal person, so he's loyal as a friend. He's loyal, mostly to his family. He's loyal to. Again, every one of the missions that he attaches himself to at Vermont Children's Hospital always wants to make things better, better for kids. This is so fun to get to honor Dr first. I do want to thank Senator Leahy for that wonderful tribute to all of our awardees. I appreciate his kind words, and certainly his tribute to to Dr first. Dr. Land, Dr. Reinhard, Dr. Mets, Dr. Hagen, and Charlotte Saffron all for joining us in honoring Dr first. Now I just have to say that Dr first award is so long that it's an eight point font. No truly it's it's hard to capture all he does and all he has done but I do want to share with you that. Dr first, your outstanding leadership and tireless commitment to providing and advocating for the highest quality family centered pediatric care. Your collaborative approach, your dedication to teaching and inspiring others here in Vermont and nationally has significantly improved the health safety and well being of children, youth and families in our community. Dr first I couldn't be more proud to be honoring you. Please join me in recognizing. Wow, which as you know his mom upside down. I want to start by just saying thank you. Thank you Senator Leahy Thank you Sally Thank you Sue. Thank you for the buzz. Jill James Joe Charlotte, and congratulations to all of the awardees for that. I mean, what a what a special day and that was very moving to see that video. And from the moment I learned I was the recipient of this year's kids safe lifetime achievement award. I was honored, as you might imagine, and for a while as some of the other awardees and said at a loss for words, especially after seeing that video which you know me is pretty unusual not to watch videos, but to be at a loss for words, but I hopefully can get myself together and share a few thoughts about being given this honor. In the news I went to review the criteria and found that the lifetime achievement award is given to an individual who has dedicated 20 or more years of service, how time flies when you are trying to make a difference in the lives of children and families, and has made a significant impact on the safety and well being of children and youth in our community. So hearing that description. I began to wonder if the selection committee had made a terrible mistake, because the more I reflected on why I'm being recognized. It became clear that this lifetime achievement does not rest with me. Some of the other awardees have said it rests with all of you who are part of the kids safe collaborative. It is because of you, the kids safe collaborative and the families, we care so much about that I have dedicated myself to joining you in striving for all we can to meet the mission of the kids safe collaborative, which you should be able to recite by memory, but is to engage all community groups, individuals and agencies to work together to improve our communities prevention of and response to child abuse and neglect. Now I know that for some of you, given the events of the past year, highlighting not just this pandemic. But as you heard today from other awardees, the structural systemic racism and the social injustice that exists in this country, trying to achieve the mission of kids safe is a lot like trying to boil the ocean. But I would beg to differ and say that every single one of you watching today participating in the community not watching because you're out there, making a difference succeeds, not by trying to boil the ocean. By simply seeing something, though much smaller than the ocean that could be a drop in the ocean, but that needs fixing, and then you fix it. And when many people fix those drops, then the sum of the parts adds up to far more than what any of us ever hoped we could accomplish. I believe the achievements of a lifetime that I've tried to support, actively participate in and improve upon are really the work of everyone who was a part of the kids safe collaborative, either providing or benefiting from the services rendered. And thus this award, as many of you who have received awards today belongs to all of you, just as much as it does to me. I'm not a cheerleader, the most, but the reason that I do what I do, and cheer for what you all try to do is not to expect fanfare or recognition but because all of you in this kids safe collaborative do four things that I have not found anywhere else to be as powerful as these four things are here in Vermont, and in our communities and in this county and in our communities. So what are those four things. First of all, the kids safe collaborative tries to change change something for the betterment of children and families each and every day. Number two, everyone who is supportive of the kids safe collaborative advocates you've heard that word used throughout the afternoon advocates for the individual child for the family, but also the communities in which you I all of us live. Point number three on the kids safe collaborative respects respects the importance you've heard it said today of patient family, family centered team based care in every program in every service or activity that the collaborative participates in. And finally, everyone in this kids safe collaborative works to eradicate health disparities as we address the inequities and the systemic and structural racism, which sadly continues to exist in this region of the country. As it does in this region of the county, the country, well, sadly all over the world. So if you think of these four things, change, advocate, respect, respect the strength of family centered care and eradicate the inequities contributing to health disparities and systemic racism. Take the first letter of those four verbs, see, change a advocate our respect e eradicate, you get care. Something that hopefully, hopefully last with all of us for each of our lifetimes. So the lifetimes of the children we care for can be as meaningful and as purposeful as each of us strives to make our own lives to be. I know in the past when I have tried to be you and step up here and see this thing I usually close the program by saying if words will not convince you how important it is to have a kid safe collaborative right here in our region in our county that is so much than maybe a song will. So I'm going to close today by telling you for this special occasion I went back to the first song that I rewrote the lyrics to in 2005, my first luncheon and celebration event. And I looked at that song and it is just as relevant today, as it was 16 years ago when I first sang it. So, for those of you who are watching on zoom please don't turn this off you can turn the volume down do whatever you need to do. Take a break whatever the tune that I am trying to sing to is from the Broadway musical, the sound of mucus music, music, excuse me. It is to my favorite things back in 2005 and the collaborative is still a very very favorite thing and the tune, the lyrics I have rewritten and it goes as follows. There are programs that protect and programs that will strive so kids aren't abused and so families will thrive in educating the public they sure do excel. These are just some of the things that kids safe does so well. The luncheons and treatments before it's too late they accomplish so much their programs are so great. Everyone that contributes has a story to tell about all of the things that kids safe does so well, when a child is in danger, when abuse and neglect face a teen. This will go down and we're at bless to frown knowing kids safe is on the scene. So, thank you. Thank you to everyone in the kids safe collaborative for being on the scene year after year, along with my family and friends who have been on the scene for me year after year and I could not be more grateful my wife Sandy is here today so victory. Many of you who are watching and I look forward to being on the scene with all of you, basically because when we all care as much as we do about a strength based approach to wellness and safety for all children. We will figure out how to boil that ocean, or at least a good part of it. And when we do that the care we demonstrate today will be paid forward by those whose young lives have been turned around in the right direction because of all of you for your lifetime Thank you for what all of you do. And thanks for enabling me to be a part of a kids safe collaborative, which I intend to continue to be a part of for a lifetime. Thank you all so very very much. Because Dr first always sings to us and we love that. We thought we'd have one last special surprise. And so, Dr first we would like to sing to you today. And actually, our very good friend, Dr Joe Hagan wrote the lyrics for this song so we're going to watch Dr Joe Hagan's song and I'm going to ask the folks in the room to please sing along. Feel free to sing along we won't know this is an opportunity will no one will judge you for singing loudly and enthusiastically. So let's hear Dr Joe Hagan and folks here in the room. You've got some words on your table. So let's use our key sheets. Here we go. Okay, let's all sing together. Who was always first for kids in our community. He's the doc on TV five FIR ST Louis first. Dr first forever let us learn from first for kids. Now's the time kids say full cheer our kids first advocate. Do C to our FIR ST. There's another verse. It's the same as the first, who is always first for kids in our community. He's the doc on TV five FIR ST Louis first. Dr first forever we all learn from first for kids. Now's the time kids say full cheer our kids first advocate. Do C to our FIR ST. Congratulations Louis. That concludes our program. Thank you all for being here in the room congratulations to all of our ward recipients. We're so glad to have you in our state. Thank you to all of the children and families here in Vermont really thank you for all of the work that you do. Thank you to hen house media for making this possible to be at home. And to be here. You watched around the globe by over 14 million viewers so thank you so much for that. We want to give a big shout out to kids state and their team and to Sally board and for all of the work that they do. And again, one more round of applause for all of our awardees tonight. And to close you out in the words of Mary in Paris, you have yourself a mighty fine day sunshine. Thank you.