September 2017 Team Accomplishments

Seeing our Guiding Principles in Action

Our Pregnancy Parenting and Adoption Program has done an amazing job over the last month. In fact, the team served, assisted, counseled, matched and placed three new infant adoption placements in 3 weeks! Great job Teresa Doud, Jennifer Harris, and Alicia O’Loughlin!

Patricia Jacques, Homeless Outreach Case Manager in Mohave County, has a passion for ending homelessness, building community relationships and partners, and finding solutions that improve processes and client’s lives. Patricia serves on a few subcommittees for Mohave County’s Continuum of Care, is a member of the Bullhead City’s Task Force to End Homelessness. She has overseen operations and recruited many volunteers for the Catholic Charities River City Resource Center in Bullhead City, and made it the place to go for homeless assistance in Bullhead City.

Patricia’s efforts have brought in many donations and through her work many clients have received treatment for serious mental illnesses/substance abuse as well as housing and employment. Patricia always puts the immediate needs of her clients first and implements the values of Catholic Social Teachings into the wide scope of her job.

Eliza Louden has moved into the role of Property Manager for Northern Arizona working with the Support Operations team. Though she has been in this newly created position a short time, she has encountered some very challenging situations. Through it all, she has remained steadfast in looking out for the agency’s best interest, while giving respect to those we serve.

Rebecca Payan, Receptionist for the Cottonwood Office, is patient and always kind. Recently, Rebecca assisted a client that is very hard of hearing with making calls to accomplish his personal financial business.

Brigid Wagner, Site Director in Cottonwood, does an amazing job! The team there share she makes it feel like their work family is whole.

Becky Darr has been working as an In Home Specialist in Mohave for two and a half years and has demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and initiative to support the team and be a go-to for the In Home program. We are so excited Becky is willing to share her knowledge and skill sets to allow this program to have on site supervision and direct support. Great job Becky!

Marissa Spieker and Kendra Goad, Case Managers in the Arizona Families F.I.R.S.T. program in Prescott, have been covering for an additional case manager position since July and haven’t missed a beat. They continue to show up to work with positive attitudes and have gotten their work done despite extra caseloads. Great job!

Adriana Carbajal was recently promoted to Program Manager with the Unaccompanied Minor Program. She has been with the program for a year and is working on her master’s degree in counselling. She always demonstrates professionalism, respect, leadership and dedication to agency goals.

Amy Gregorich, with Arizona Families F.I.R.S.T in Mohave, has accepted the position of Assistant Site Director for the Mohave County Region. Amy will continue to supervise the AFF team, but will have the added component of looking after the Mohave offices and its connection in the community, and supporting all of the local staff with a direct, local connection to leadership. Amy has already lent a much needed ear in the past and many local team members are very comfortable in approaching Amy with any needs or concerns. We are so pleased to have Amy assist us in ensuring Mohave has the strength and structure to grow and prosper in serving our clients. Congratulations Amy!!!

Judy Alvidrez, Youth Coordinator in the Unaccompanied Minor Program, gave two youth the opportunity to have art lessons from a community artist and their paintings are now in display at the Phoenix Art Museum. The youth were so proud and full of self-confidence thanks to Judy’s work and dedication.

Karen Snow, accounting, is being recognized for transitioning and taking over the bookkeeping for the Refuge Café from an outside contractor. This resulted in significant savings to The Refuge Cafe and brought their accounting in line with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).

Veterans Outreach Center Coordinator, Charles “Chuck” Ashby’s quick thinking helped save a man’s life. A veteran at the Outreach Center started having a heart attack. Chuck called 911 and brought the campus EMT to the veteran. The EMT and another veteran client were able to start CPR. His heart stopped for seven minutes before medical personnel were able to revive him.

The Prescott SPAW Team really knocks it out of the park! They facilitate building healthy relationships and their local team’s ability to have fun together. The team consists of Krystal Koons, Candace Lea, Stephanie Smith, JoAnne Williams, and Ginger Campbell. Be sure to see the photo of their luau on the SPAW page.