Thanksgiving for a St. Louis area family was made better by an attentive state employee.
Belinda English discovered an error made by the local office after a client came in. The client was relying on the food stamp card to help with Thanksgiving meal.
She is "very attentive to any clients that require assistance. Her attention to detail is to be commended," said Jeff Hoffman, correspondence and information specialist for the Missouri Department of Senior Services, who nominated English for the State Employee of the Month.
The client had notified the senior services office earlier in the month of an address change to receive a replacement food stamp card. She was still waiting for the card to arrive when she returned to the office a second time.
English found the address change had been entered incompletely.
"The client was very emotionally upset," Hoffman said. "Belinda took charge of the situation, corrected the address properly and quietly retrieved her purse. Into an envelope, she placed some money to assist the client, sealed the envelope and placed the envelope in with additional paperwork she was returning to the client."
After apologizing to the client for the agency error, English returned to her work station and the client departed.
"The client returned moments later, tears in her eyes, and promised all of us she would "pay the assistance forward' as she was truly grateful," Hoffman said.
"This is the quality of worker I admire, someone who knows what difference a little bit of out-of-the-box thinking can make to someone in need."
Although this non-conventional approach may not be appropriate in all cases, Hoffman praised the effect English had in that one moment for that one client.
"Many front line employees have done similar acts of kindness - on their own accord - to personally take control over errors that are agency related. It's what we do. It's who we are."
Missouri's State Employee of the Month is selected by the State Employee of the Month Selection Committee from among nominations submitted by the 16 state departments and some elected offices. The six committee members also are members of the State Training Advisory Council.