Bus Op Jefrick Dean wins Coveted Sloan Public Service Award

With temps hitting the mid 60’s on a brilliant morning in Brooklyn, our own Jefrick R. Dean basked in the sunshine of the City’s most prestigious public service award – the Sloan Public Service Award. On Wednesday night he will be one of six honored by the Mayor and other dignitaries at the Cooper Union, but on Wednesday morning, Jefrick, with his glowing warmth and heartfelt faith, owned the East New York Depot in the heart of Brooklyn.

In front of four TV cameras and top officials including TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen, VP for TA Surface Stephan Thomas, an MTA delegation with NYCT President Tom Prendergast, Buses VP Darryl Irick, and the board members of the Fund for the City of New York, Dean stepped up to claim a framed photo and a large-sized check for $10,000, the amount of the Sloan Award. He did so with the grace and humility that have earned him 132 unsolicited passenger letters of commendation.

Dean was unanimously voted in as an award winner by the Fund’s Board, after they reviewed his qualifications. As was noted in the program book presented to audience members, Dean, who drives the B20 out of the East New York  Depot to downtown Brooklyn and back eight times a day, “strives to make sure that everyone exits his bus in a better mood than when they entered, and most do.” His ten hour shift includes two hours in the swing room – something the New York Post is free to complain about.

The 22-year Bus Operator, an ordained minister – and a member of the NYCT Chaplain team under Rabbi Berkowitz -- began by giving thanks to God, then spoke of the joy he felt and his dedication to his job (“if you do something, you have to do it wholeheartedly, not half-heartedly,’). He concluded with a salute to the five other civil servants who will take the stage at Cooper Union with him tonight. He then said he was honored to have been hired by New York City Transit, and thanked his supervisors for the excellent job they’ve been doing. Congratulations, Jefrick, from all of your union brothers and sisters. You’re a credit to all of us and to your city.