GEM Awards
At a recent Casa Myrna All-Staff Meeting, the inaugural GEM – Going the Extra Mile – Awards were announced. Eleven staff members were honored for their contributions to our organization, and we wanted to share the nominations with you:
Camila Rojas Pagan, Community Advocacy Program Manager
“Camila always goes above and beyond to support her team. Camila demonstrates compassionate leadership and understanding for us all. Camila also continues to support participants and helps me help them to the best of our abilities.”
Cheryl Grannum-Bennett, Staff Accountant
“Cheryl weaves the many threads that make up the tapestry that is Casa Myrna. Fashioning a mosaic of paperwork from timesheet and receipt requests, hers is the energy that ensures, we meet deadlines and documents our support for reimbursement. She knows everybody’s name. She hand delivers pay stubs to the residential programs on her way to pick up mail from the post office.”
Claire Spelkoman, SafeLink Manager
“Claire has gone above and beyond to make sure the [new hire] 35 hour training is a constant moving forward process. On top of the work she’s doing for SafeLink she has dedicated so much time to keeping us all on track.”
Karen D’Agostino, Advocate, Mary Foreman Emergency Shelter
“Karen is dependable and goes above and beyond for our program participants. Karen is compassionate and truly dedicated to supporting our participants achieve their goals. Karen is a great team player and takes initiative within the programs to create a safe environment. She enjoys planning activities for the programs and celebrating participants accomplishments.”
Katherine Marcincuk, Children’s Services Specialist
“Katie works to support our program participants and children connecting them to resources within the community. Katie has stepped outside of her role as a child specialist to take on the role as advocate to support program participants. Katie shares information she learns in her classes and through her internship to share with the team helping us grow.”
Katherine Schulte, Managing Attorney, Legal Advocacy Program
“Katherine embodies true leadership! She somehow manages to wear about 5 different hats in her role as Legal Director. Katherine is in the trenches on cases and at court – stepping in on last minute cases to support her team; she provides legal training and mentorship to her legal team as well as outside agencies and attorneys, and she supports, empowers and hears-out her team in a way that few supervisors do.”
Katrina Lang, Advocate, EVA Center
“Katrina is very attentive. She always has great ideas on how to improve things here at the EVA House. She is a team player!”
Sabina Depina, Community Advocacy Specialist
“Sabina had the most participants in the hotels and she managed to get her participants into apartments with either permanent housing or with rapid rehousing. Sabina followed up with landlords, helped fill out documents, and always advocated for her participants so that they could have the smoothest transition possible from the hotels to their new apartment. Sabina supported her participants through the most difficult times and has so much compassion and empathy. Because of Sabina’s hard work many of the participants who were in the hotels have a safe place to call home.”
Stacy Mottley, Residential Programs Manager
“She is very supportive of her team, is always willing to listen to staff and participants. Not just a manager, she is a very active part of the team. She is very honest and transparent in conversations. She actually checks in with you. She really cares about staff, wants to support us the best she can, and is very easy to talk to. She will always work with you on finding a solution for whatever challenge.”
Stephanie Brown, Chief Executive Officer
“For me she’s working hard to make sure we are in a place as agency that we are representing our values and principles.”
Susan Schwartz, Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Advocacy Program
“Susan has managed the legal helpline during the unprecedented increase in call volume while also onboarding, training and managing the intern program. She is smart creative, resourceful, and incredibly empathetic towards the callers and her co-workers. Although Susan is kind and patient, she is also assertive when needed whether it is in response to issues that come up in the Legal Advocacy Program, at Casa Myrna, or with difficult calls.”