2011 Holiday Message

(MUSIC PLAYS)
Director Howard Hendrick: The things for which I think I am most grateful this year is my faith.
It's been a challenging year in many, many ways 
and so having my faith has really been wonderful this year.
My family - I have a new grandson this year who is just now a few weeks old and he's wonderful.
He's my third grandchild and so I'm very grateful for that.
At the same time, my other children are doing well. My mom is still living and doing well.
So, I think having those people around me that really mean so much to me is a real blessing.
And friends - And I think there are so many people within this agency
who have reached out to me so many times this year that I'm so grateful for: 
the emails, the cards, phone calls, different stuff just to say,
ìYou know, we're thinking about you. We're pulling for you.î
Having friends like that is very valuable.
So, it's little things like that that really make life worthwhile.
I hope that the things I've given this year are some of the same things.
I hope I'm giving people hope and I'm giving people confidence that even in the midst of a lot 
of turmoil and challenges they can have confidence that we can weather the storms we're going through.
Primarily because we're doing the right things and doing them well 
even though there are going to be changes. There's always going to have to be changes.
That's the nature of the beast.
I'd like to just take a moment to express to you my sincere hope 
that you'll have a wonderful holiday season.
I hope you'll sit back and be thankful for all that we have as a state, as a nation,
as a family and as employees.
The privilege we have to help our neighbors is an incredible honor 
and so I'm taking time this holiday season to really be grateful for that privilege 
and I hope you'll take the time to appreciate our coworkers.
Because it's one of the most important things from my perspective that we have in the agency. 
We really have great people who care about each other. We're not perfect.
We don't always all get along on everything. We are like a family.
Sometimes families have disagreements.
But mostly at the end of the day, we try to come together and say,
ìYou know, we're here to help each other and we're here to help the families that we are here for.î
We do understand our mission. 
We do understand the reason why we work together for a better state.
I want to say thank you for all that you do.
I hope your holiday season is wonderful, that you have great times with your families,
and if we can do anything to make any of our neighbors better, I know all of you are doing that.
But, I'd like to know what I can do also so stay in touch with me also.
Blessings to you and have a great holiday season. Thank you.
(MUSIC PLAYS)