Thumbs up to those who help others

They are Kate Winter, a victim witness coordinator at the Rockingham County Attorney's office and co-facilitator of the Rockingham County Sexual Assault Resource Team; Caroline Racine, an assistant supervisor for the Department of Children, Youth and Families in the Southern Telework unit; Courtney Sayers, the child-focused advocate at YWCA NH; Rye police officers Scott Blaisdell and Mark Lynch; and Kim Contarino and Donna Kelleher of Adamson Industries.

All of these people have worked to keep kids safe. The Rye officers worked to arrest Richard Racette, who was indicted on 33 felony counts of alleged sex crimes with victims ages 9 to 15.

Contarino and Kelleher, whose business is to equip first responder vehicles with safety equipment, were praised for being adoptive mothers and fierce advocates for foster parents, first responders, rescue animals, veterans and child abuse victims.

Every winner has a great story and every one of them deserves the community's thanks.

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Thumbs up and good luck to Executive Director Emily Flinkstrom and her big ambitions for expanding the Fair Tide operation in Kittery to help more people who are homeless make a better life for themselves.

Fair Tide is a nonprofit with five housing units in the Foreside area of town, offers case management services and also operates a thrift store on Route 1. Flinkstrom is seeking to add 40 units of permanent housing to families and individuals moving out of homelessness. She has a five-year plan that will rely on partnering with developers and working with local landlords.

"Research really shows when you provide someone with permanent, stable housing they are better able to focus on the other things going on in their lives," Flinkstrom said. She hopes to add five units a year the next three years and, in 2020, five housing units in a Kittery development, and a larger 15-unit development in 2022.

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Thumbs up and good luck to Moira O'Neill, the state's first director of the new Office of the Child Advocate, a position she sadly noted came to be because of the deaths of children, as well as journalists at the Concord Monitor who wrote about them.

She has the delicate job of overseeing the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, where caseworkers are typically overloaded. She will jump in whenever needed to help children directly or change procedures so kids don't fall through the cracks. And she has to do this while keeping up the morale of people who are working extremely hard. This is critical because of cases like 3-year-old Brielle Gage and 21-month-old Sadee Willott. Gage was beaten to death by her mother in 2014, while Willott died of blunt force trauma after her mother forcefully pushed her in a bathtub, the Concord Monitor reported.

"It's very, very difficult to try to improve performance of people in human services without devastating them," she said. "I don't believe there was anyone in DCYF who went into that business to hurt kids or disappoint families."

O'Neill worked for 11 years for the Office of the Child Advocate in Connecticut so she brings experience to a most vital position.