The Marcy’s Award
Determined to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities, CareLink’s founder, Marcella I. Schmoeger, opened CareLink’s first program in 1959. Sixty years later, her vision and philosophy are still the heart of the agency. Each year, CareLink presents the Marcy’s Award to honor the memory and dedication of its founder by recognizing program participants for their success in recovery, wellness, and self-determination. This year’s Marcy’s Awards were presented at SnowBall, CareLink’s annual holiday party, on December 19.
2019 Award Recipients
Maurice Staten
Maurice Staten, a Perkiomenville resident, is a long-time CareLink program participant and a huge fan of the agency. Over the last two years, Maurice has experienced several major, challenging life events, and though he has a history of struggling with impulse control and anger management, he worked hard to learn skills to help him cope and stay positive when things get tough. As a result, Maurice not only survived the last year, he flourished. Through all of his difficulties, Maurice found a job he enjoys and learned that each person has their own individual path to recovery. He is a great example of positive outcomes and recovery. –Melissa Lambert
Cynthia Washington
Cynthia Washington, a participant in CareLink’s Supported Living Services program, has been doing extremely well since transitioning to the agency in early 2019. She attends Welcome House three days a week, enjoys writing articles and serving as editor for the monthly Welcome House newspaper, teaches a WRAP group, and assists others in creating their own WRAP plans. Cynthia maintains her independent living very well and stays active in the community by helping out at Welcome House. Because she is such a positive role model there, Welcome House has even approached Cynthia about possibly learning to become a Certified Peer Specialist. –Shannon McMahon
2019 Special Recognition Recipients
Richard Abt – Nominated by Julie Locke
Ronald Holmes – Nominated by LaLanya King
Ian Johnson – Nominated by Bernard Blunt
Michael Lall – Nominated by Mariama Murray-Taylor
Trevor Mateer – Nominated by JoAnna Lombardo
Kimberly McArdle – Nominated by David Speers
Kevin McCarry – Nominated by Erin Keeley
The President’s Award
Incredible talent abounds at CareLink Community Support Services and while choosing winners is never easy, each year, the President’s Awards recognize exemplary employees who encourage, empower, and support individuals living with mental illness. Individual awards were presented to employees working in a Supervisory and Direct Care roles at the agency’s Employee Service Awards Luncheon on January 29.
2019 Award Recipients
Mohamed Yansaneh – Direct Care
Mohamed Yansaneh has been employed by CareLink since September 2017. He has worked in both a PRN capacity and currently serves as a full-time Residential Counselor. Each day, Mohamed encourages, empowers, and supports our program participants. He is very well-respected by participants at Jefferson Street and other sites because he always gives respect to all of his participants and peers. Mohamed is constantly thinking about the participants what he can do as a whole to assist them in their recovery. He works tirelessly to assist participants in achieving their everyday goals, and they often go to Mohamed to for assistance. Mohamed is definitely a leader. If anyone has questions about the way things should be done at the Jefferson Street CRR, I have no hesitation in directing them to Mohamed for further assistance. Mohamed always takes the initiative to go the extra mile. –Yahayah Conteh
Sarah Zielke – Supervisory
Sarah Zielke has been working for CareLink for more than 10 years. She was originally hired as a Mobile Psych Specialist and at the Lansdowne MPR office, and later became a Supported Living Specialist. In 2018, Sarah was promoted to the position of CareLink’s Director of Community-based Services. In this role, she supervises CareLink’s County Assessor; oversees Mobile Psych Rehab, Supported Living Services, and Peer Support Services; coordinates the intake and processing of referrals to these programs; and communicates with direct care personnel to keep things running smoothly. Though Sarah accepted the new role of Director of Community-based Services at a time when some areas of services needed attention, she enthusiastically took on the challenges and projected a positive image to her participants and co-workers –David Speers
2019 Special Recognition Recipients
Dawn Cassellia – Nominated by Melissa Lambert
Drew (Richard) Keyser – Nominated by Melissa Lambert
Melissa Lambert – Nominated by Laura Fash
Ellen Mortiz – Nominated by Kara Rothschild-Rode