Ashley Leonhardt Lee was installed by her aunt Sheryl Cook at Easterseals’ annual meeting, who performed the ceremony as Easterseals only Honorary Lifetime Director, an honor her mother and Mrs. Lee’s grandmother Gloria Cook held for many years.  Sheryl and her sister Vicki Cook Leonhardt, owners of Tom Cook Jeweler have followed the community footsteps of their parents Tom and Gloria Cook, who were Easterseals champions, locally and nationally for over 60 years.  Now, Ashley Leonhardt Lee, Vicki’s daughter and Sheryl’s niece, is excited to embark on her own charitable journey as an advocate for her community and most especially, the children of Easterseals.
 
“I believe we have one of the best volunteer boards in our area with a healthy make up of seasoned, long term Easterseals supporters and a new class (or cohort) of diverse volunteers with a fresh set of ideas and experiences to help drive us into the future” says President & CEO Bev Johnson.  “As a point of interest, we have a board where there is generational involvement. Several board members are 2nd generation volunteers and we have just inducted our first 3rd generation volunteer. We are incredibly fortunate to have longevity and history coupled with new vision and ideals. Our board members are able to honor our past with a strong vision for the future.”

My name is Dawn Melani, Charter School Principal. This is my 4th year with Easterseals.

My Primary responsibilities as the Principal are handling all of the day-to-day operations of the Charter School including teacher and paraprofessional supervision and training.

I enjoy building strong relationships with families. Our students benefit in so many ways when they have a strong home-school connection.

I believe to be successful you have to grow both personally and professionally. I have set my goals high and I’m committed to learning everything I can about my position. I embrace change and that has helped be grow personally as well.

I want to be known as the person any staff member or parent can go to for support or resources.
I love to be a mentor, help and give back!

I hope that when people think about Easterseals, they think about all the valuable child development and educational services we provide to help guide parents through the preschool years.
 

Easterseals offers public recognition and personal thanks to Rep Tom Leek and Sen Tom Wright for their efforts on our behalf to secure and maintain important funding for our Autism Center of Excellence.  In a budget year riddled with pandemic related caution and concern, and nearly, our advocates fought hard to serve our families. An appropriation of $250,000 was approved and is being utilized today to guide dozens of local families towards a definitive diagnosis of autism and evidence-based interventions for the best chance of childhood and lifetime success.

"We are so excited, grateful, and appreciative of the renewal and increase of funding for our Autism Center of Excellence, and the statewide expansion of the PLAY Project.  Our autism program staff, in particular, is already preparing to start the new fiscal year strong.  In the month of May, 2021, their volume grew from an average of 40-60 physician referrals each month to a whopping 89 referrals!  Each referral represents a family and physician that has significant concerns about their child's development, in most cases a family that is significantly underinsured, and an entire team of folks eager to help their child succeed!  They are so very grateful for the services we are able to provide." ~ Dorothy Lefford, Vice President Clinical Services 

A fairly new and special category of recognition for Easterseals staff is our Emerging Leaders awards. These select staff members have been nominated by their supervisor for overall initiative and growth mindset for our organization. 

Bobby Cyril, Supervisor, Case Management, Pediatric Specialty Therapy Services
Bobby is new to Easterseals but has jumped in with 2 feet to learn case management and research next steps to elevate the team to Targeted case managers. He was promoted to SOAR manager and has held two successful programs with teens promoting social skills, wellness and nutrition as well as Activities of Daily Living (ADL's). He has a gift for structure, organization and mentoring lending which definitely are qualities of rising leaders. Bobby also is a graduate of this years IMPACT Team.

Brenna Giblock, Program Manager, Easterseals Early Steps, North Beaches
Brenna K. Giblock, MSW Program Manager, Early Steps North Beaches, is responsible for assisting the Program Director with implementing the State Early Steps program locally, supervision of Early Steps program staff as well as meeting the needs and responsibilities of program staff, and maintenance of grant standards to meet the needs of Early Steps clients and their families.  In everything she does, Brenna exemplifies her philosophy for her leadership success which  lies in one simple concept -being approachable, listening - ensuring both families and staff feel heard.

Jillian Overbey, Charter School Teacher, Easterseals Charter School, Daytona
Jillian has recently stepped into a new role connecting the Charter School and the Early Childhood Education Center in Daytona. Jill is ever so eager to assist wherever is needed and is bringing her knowledge of ESE to the afterschool programming. Jill is always upbeat and happy and her energy is contagious.

Niki Roberts, Assistant Director, Early Childhood Education Center, Daytona
Niki is a new staff member to Easterseals, but has jumped in with both feet. Niki truly leads by example. There is not anything Niki isn’t willing to do….open the facility, run children to the classrooms, jump into a classroom, meet with parents. And Niki does it all with a smile.

 Crystal Smithers, Family Service Coordinator Supervisor-Early Steps
Crystal is known to go the extra mile in all that she does. She was a member of the first IMPACT Team and this year she took a lead role on the planning committee. She shares her knowledge and experience as part of the team as well as Easterseals Early Steps as a whole. During the last year Early Steps brought on quite a few new Family Service Coordinators and Crystal has worked to enhance the trainings used and took on training many of the new FSC staff. She does not shy away from any task given.
 
Two of the leaders that we spotlighted last year as Emerging Leaders, have indeed, gone on towards promotions and increased responsibilities in their field.
 
Allison Berard, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, has taken on a new initiative, and a newly launching Behavior Services Program as Manager.
 
Gabriella Goeke, Assistant Director of Clinical Services, Speech-Language Pathologist was promoted recently in a newly created position to help manage our increased volume in pediatric specialty therapy services.
 
Congratulations to Easterseals Emerging Leaders!