For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: December 17, 2007

Vocational rehabilitation agency honors statewide ‘All-Stars’

RALEIGH – The N.C. Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services honored staff members Friday with its sixth statewide “VR All-Star Awards.” The three — from Boone, Forest City and Wilmington — were chosen from nine recipients of VR’s regional “Superstar Awards.”

Employee volunteers manage the awards program in which agency staff nominate and vote on their co-workers. The award categories and recipients included: 

• Leadership — Connie Barnette, manager of the agency’s Boone office, received the award for outstanding achievement in leadership. The award praises Barnette for leading “by example, encouragement and plain hard work” and exhibiting “genuine caring with consumers and staff.”  It also cited her ability to handle even the most difficult situations with “professionalism, fairness and discretion.”

• Customer Service — Jackie Godlock, a business relations representative in the agency’s Forest City office, was cited for her customer service. The award notes that “she always puts the needs of her consumers as a top priority, always looking for ways to serve them more effectively and efficiently. She constantly performs duties outside her job description in order to help others.” 

• Creativity — Rachel Towns, a counselor in the agency’s Wilmington office, was honored for her creativity. The award cites her efforts to make agency services better known in the community. She is a frequent guest on a locally televised talk show and has been a guest on “The Morning Beat,” a local radio talk show, along with former consumers of agency services.

Director Linda Harrington thanked the honorees and congratulated them “on achieving the greatest honor this agency bestows…. With this highest statewide recognition, you have been honored by your co-workers as ‘the best of the best.’”

Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton also congratulated the recipients, noting that “the work of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services is an integral, important part of the department’s mission to serve the people of North Carolina, most especially those with disabilities. The contributions for which you’ve been recognized are indispensable in carrying out that work.”