2020
Employee of the Quarter
Q2: April – June
Joy Castro, Admin
Congratulations to Joy Castro, Maple Star’s Office Administrator! Her organization, ability to stay on top of everything, and follow through with reminders are amazing. The quality of work Joy does is very respectable, she is detail oriented and doesn’t ask people to just do things for her, she takes it upon herself to want to learn how. She advocates for herself, and tries her best every day. She has been a champ through this COVID outbreak, and she is someone that is genuinely missed by many while we are all being forced to stay separate. She is friendly, compassionate, and such a blessing to the Maple Star family. She has taken it upon herself to try to make birthdays and anniversaries a little extra special, wishing all those at the company sweet wishes when they have a special occasion coming up. She is thorough, efficient, patient and oh so helpful! Joy takes the time to help guide new team members at their own paces to make the onboarding process and any challenges less scary. Thanks for all you do Joy! You are our gatekeeper!
NOMINEES
Jade Fung
Jade is always there for her team, and makes herself available if someone needs help understanding or solving something, to talk about cases, or talk about how they are doing as a person. She puts others first. She is invested in her families, providing them with various levels of support. She made a great impact with her Parenting Time Team and showed them compassion and teamwork. Jade is outgoing, organized, on time, and got to know each and every one of her team members, making them feel valued and important. Foster Care is lucky to have her and Parenting Time sure does miss her.
Kim Charles
This wonderful woman deserves a nomination for Life Time Achievement! She has been the rock of the entire southern region for over 21 years! Through all the ups and downs, Kim remains. She is most definitely worthy of a nomination and recognition as a Maple Star – Rock Star.
Mallori Kenworthy
Mallori has proven herself to be a great teacher and leader. She is patient and very articulate. Many of us do not have the pleasure of seeing her in action, but she never hesitates to help others out when it comes to a client, caseworker or others. Yes, that may be her job but her qualities are so apparent, it’s hard not to appreciate what a great supervisor and leader Mallori truly is.
Nathalie Alvarado
Nathalie always has a smile on her face and is ready to jump into new cases with an open mind. She has only been at Maple Star for a couple of months, and has already proven to be a huge asset to the KEEP Metro Team. She is a hard worker and completes notes summaries on time consistently. Nathalie excels at connecting with families and constantly reaching out to families who are not responsive to engage them.
Ronda Carlson
Ronda has always put in more than 100% effort. She is a natural at her position. Ronda was a great sport about transitioning to virtual support for our foster families so they could continue to meet and have a sense of community at a time when we all need it most. She has also extended her reach to support all regions Maple Sar serves which has been so appreciated by foster families and team members.
Wendy Henderson-Bullock
Wendy is consistently a stable support. Her ability to juggle so many tasks while still being mindful to advocate for self-care and other needs from the clinical team. She is Clinical’s rock, keeping the team anchored through the seas of change. Wendy provides great clinical supervision, and has a hand in a majority of cases, supporting cases through crisis while remaining well poised. These attributes of Wendy keep her team stable. Thanks for all you do Wendy!
Julie Berland
Julie’s approach supervision of home studies is a skill in and of itself. She makes relevant, helpful comments when supervising home studies and provides additional information or reviews materials in a helpful, non-condescending way. Julie is competent and helpful regarding other things like grammar issues, recommending additional questions to ask clients. Finally, she is able to get answers to questions about various county policies and procedures in a timely fashion. Writers love working with Julie;
Nikoya Marsh
Nikoya wears many hats within Maple Star, and has her hands in multiple programs. Her positive, “can do” attitude is an asset to the entire agency. She is our go-to person when we need help supporting special projects. She willingly accepts additional job duties with a positive attitude. She is personable, responsive and accessible. On more that one occasion County staff members have exclaimed “I love Nikoya! She is great!” Nikoya makes the home study program possible. She is respected and well-liked by co-workers and county personnel. Nikoya is awesome!
