Serving Others is in His DNA

Morris Lazard, a Human Services Specialist in the Lemon Grove Family Resource Center, helps raise money to fund a food pantry in his office. The pantry's Top Ramen noodles, granola bars and pudding cups go to clients in extreme need who can't wait a few days for benefits to arrive. It is completely employee-funded.

Morris Lazard makes a point of starting each conversation with his clients at the front window of the Lemon Grove Family Resource Center by asking them, “How can I help you?”

Most are in dire need. Some don’t know where they are going to sleep next or when their next meal will come, said Lazard, a Human Services Specialist for the County’s Health and Human Services Agency.

“By the time they get here, they’re not having a good day,” he said.

From there, his job is to determine if they are eligible for assistance programs such as CalFresh or Medi-Cal. In the relatively short time Lazard has been in this job, he’s had a profound effect on his clients and those around him.   

Lazard is the second County employee to be spotlighted this month, National Ethics Awareness Month, as part of a series of features on employees living the County’s core values of integrity, responsible stewardship and commitment to excellence every day. The County’s Statement of Values details them.

Clients praise him for the respect and kindness that they say he shows in his every day interactions with them. They have nominated him for so many customer service awards through the County’s Serving Everyone with Excellence program that he received a Lifetime Achievement honor through the program in 2012.

Lazard brings to his job a calm demeanor and a good sense of humor. He doesn’t seem to get flustered easily, and yet he has an empathetic, sensitive touch with clients.

He said he makes eye contact and really tries to understand where they are coming from—but also make sure they know he cares. He then acts as their advocate in determining if they are eligible for assistance.  If so, he makes a point of explaining what they need to do to qualify, and why the process is set up the way it is. To qualify for benefits, applicants must produce sensitive personal information such as bank statements and children’s immunization records.

Lazard’s supervisor, Donnis Crayne, said he is particularly good at explaining the eligibility process.

“He slows down and goes into more detailed explanation, the why, why are we asking for this information,” said Crayne, a Supervising Human Services Specialist.

He is so good with people—and enjoys it so much—that he is one of the first to step in and work with new clients who arrive upset or panicked in the lobby in Lemon Grove.

Just five years ago, Lazard was managing a real estate office in Carlsbad, helping people buy homes. But the real estate and mortgage industries started to nose-dive, and he started looking for another job.  One of his relatives worked at the County and highly encouraged him to apply, so he did. Not long after, the County contacted him with this position in mind.

“What a shift” it’s been, he said. “Now I’m dealing with people who don’t have a home, and who are in serious need.”

But in both positions, he’s been able to help people. And that has been immensely gratifying for him.

Turns out, Lazard practically has customer service in his DNA. His father owned a clothing store in downtown San Diego and had a devoted following of customers. From his parents, he learned the value in taking care of people and also the values of honesty, integrity and ethics. He has applied all of them to his work.

Lazard said he tries to treat others the way he would want to be treated.

Lazard started in the job just months before the economy fully plunged into recession. Still, almost five years later, the office is always busy, he said.

He tries to help clients in as few interactions as possible—to save both their time and the County’s. Some days, he staffs the front window. Other days, he has a succession of four, five or six sit down meetings with clients. The meetings may last from five minutes to an hour and 15 minutes each. The variety suits him well.

“I like contact with people—I’m not good at sitting,” he said.

Clients are sometimes hostile when they arrive, expecting an unpleasant experience.  They may anticipate a long wait and even then, not necessarily getting what they came in for. 

Sometimes life has been tough on them, other times they may not have been keeping up with what they needed to do, he said. Or maybe it’s been a mixture of the two.

He aims to make them feel comfortable and understood.

No matter what frustrations Lazard said he is feeling in his own life, he doesn’t let them creep into his interactions with clients.

“The work is challenging, but he faces it cheerfully,” Crayne said.

In addition to his regular duties, Lazard volunteered to serve as president of the FRC’s House Committee. The group’s mission started out as raising money to replace appliances in the shared employee lunch room. But the appliances have kept up, so the focus mostly shifted to creating an in-house food pantry.

Inside cabinets in the lunch room, sit stacks of Cup of Noodles soup, cups of pudding, granola bars, bottled water, diapers and other basics.

This isn’t for the employees. It’s for clients in extreme need, who have absolutely no income or who can’t wait a few days for benefits to arrive.

“They are pleasantly surprised, quite grateful and appreciative,” Lazard said. “Sometimes (they) even shed a tear of happiness knowing they can feed their family for one or two more days until benefits are on their EBT card.”