With Letters to Santa written by District Ten's children in foster care in hand, Office of Public Private Partnerships employees began the task of fulfilling Christmas wishes early. By the time the holiday arrived, and with help from such community partners as BellSouth, HANDY, and others, a warehouse (whose use was donated by the ATI Institute), was brimming with dolls, bikes, books, and fun. On December 21st, foster parents arrived to pick up the presents to give to the children in their care. And a Merry Christmas to all!

Dr. Phyllis Scott, District Ten's administrator, likes to recognize district employees who go "above and beyond" on behalf of their clients, their colleagues, or their community. These are among the colleagues to be so honored.

In a letter from two grateful adoptive-parents-to-be, Judy Mohammed is praised for being "a university-grade instructor, who is well-informed, non-judgmental, and kind." The letter goes on to say Ms. Mohammed is "definitely a jewel in (DCF's) crown." The Model Approach to Partnership and Parenting (M.A.P.P.) Training is our district's state-of-the-art method of preparing adoptive and foster parents for the task at hand.

Christie Dowsett has been serving the children of Broward County in her current role since November 1996. She has been widely recognized as a superb case manager, as well as a caring and resourceful counselor of children in foster care and under protective supervision. She is honored for her willingness to share her talents for case management organization with her colleagues in District 13 (Lake County).

In a letter to DCF Secretary Judge Kathleen Kearney, Rose Cook, Chief of Real Property Management, commends Basil Fox' efforts for helping the state realize "a phenomenal $12,882,760 reduction" in our agency's future rental payments. Mr. Fox is, in fact, single-handedly responsible for $2,753,343 of those savings.