Awards

Dawn has been dedicated to Beech Brook's mission of helping children and families for more than 30 years. Throughout her journey, she has witnessed the challenges that both children and parents face. She firmly believes something we know very well at Beech Brook: "You can't expect kids to change if you don't strengthen the parents."

Dawn began working at Beech Brook in March 1992 as a family preservation therapist, eventually taking on critical roles in our family preservation program, supervision in our school-based program, and the Director of Family Services.

In all the roles Dawn has taken on over the course of her career, her number one goal has always been to leave a positive impact on her clients and be invited back, fostering relationships where she can help the entire family. In fact, Dawn was featured in this year's Annual Report, where she shared a story about a family she worked with who needed support - and became stronger because they accepted Beech Brook's help.

Each year, Beech Brook awards one organization that has been instrumental in helping Beech Brook advance our mission with the Community Partnership Award. For 2023's Annual Meeting, Beech Brook was happy to present PRADCO with this honor.

PRADCO's CEO, Terry Owen, is a member of Beech Brook's Board of Directors. After supporting Beech Brook personally for many year, he connected us with PRADCO.

PRADCO’s support for Beech Brook’s events has been substantial. For over 10 years, PRADCO has supported our critical fundraising events that support Beech Brook’s ability to further our mission. They supported our long-running event the Beech Ball and more recently, they have been one of our largest supporters of Bash for the Brook and our Beech Brook 5K and Family Fun Run.

The Mario Tonti Award, named in honor of longtime Beech Brook CEO Mario Tonti, is an annual award given to a direct service staff member who embodies Beech Brook's mission. For 2022, the well-deserved recipient of this award is Bridgett Berry, Clinical Supervisor for the Supportive Visitation and Nurturing Parenting programs. 

Bridgett has been at Beech Brook for more than 23 years, starting out leading mental health groups and was recently promoted to her new supervisory role. According to Terri Davis, Senior Director of Prevention & Early Intervention services, "Bridgett has an incredible passion for her work, her team, and helping families gain and maintain stability. Bridgett brings her voice, not only to Beech Brook, but the various communities that we serve."

Terri continues, "When Bridgett sees a need in the community, she always takes the opportunity to educate and provide resources...[she] brings a cheerful outlook to work on a daily basis and always gives her best. Through her work, hearts have been touched, families have been transformed, and the impact will be felt for years to come."

The Anger Management classes provide parents with the tools they need to recognize the underlying causes for their anger and learn to manage their feelings in a healthier way at home and in their everyday lives. This helps parents learn better ways to interact with their children and develop healthier relationships.

At this year's 170th Annual Meeting of Beech Brook's Board of Directors, held on September 29, 2022, Tom Royer presented long-time staff member Don Smith with The Suzanne Brookhart Harrison Award for Exceptional Service to Children. This award, Beech Brook's highest honor, is given to a professional who exemplifies the best in our field and is named after Sue Harrison, who was an incredible advocate and fundraiser for Beech Brook and served on our Board of Directors for more than 60 years.

For nearly 30 years, Fairport Asset Management, now Fairport Wealth, has supported our critical fundraising events that support Beech Brook’s ability to further our mission. They supported our long-running event, the Beech Ball, our newest fundraiser, the Bash for the Brook, and our 5K Race that began in 2010. In fact, it was Tom Seifert, Partner and Senior Advisor at Fairport Wealth who has been a long-time supporter, advocate and 13-year Board member for Beech Brook, who helped originate the concept for the 5K Race and Family Fun Run, which has been going strong for almost 12 years.