CASA of NH Honors Volunteers, Supporters, and Friends at Annual Celebration
On Oct. 24, CASA of New Hampshire held its Annual Celebration at the Manchester Country Club in Bedford. It recognized those valued advocates, supporters, and friends who have all played a role in helping to change children’s lives over the past year.
Among those honored included 70 volunteer advocates who reached milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service to the organization. CASA also recognized the recipients of several awards and our outstanding advocate of the year award.
All the advocates who reached milestones this year are outstanding, but CASA of NH would like to recognize Mary Atwell, who dedicated 25 years and countless hours to advocating for some of our state’s most vulnerable children – those who have experienced abuse and neglect. During her time with CASA of NH, she served on 12 cases representing 18 children.
Below are a few words from CASA of NH staff members who worked closely with Mary:
“In the early days, she was a well-known visitor to the office on Walnut Street. Her great smile and warm manner connected her to staff, professionals and, most specially, the children on her cases. Over the years she proved to be a strong voice for her children and uses her interpersonal skills to bring consensus and a team spirit to her advocacy. We hope Mary will allow us to continue to use her to mentor advocates and inspire new CASAs.” – Bonnie Herrick, Advocate Supervisor
“Mary is always such a joy to work with and is a very robust advocate with a great sense of humor and empathy for the families CASA works with. Mary’s attention and awareness to detail is extremely noteworthy. Her strong support for the children she has served has been incredible, with both children and their parents commenting on how kind and caring Mary is. Once Mary invests in a case, she always gives 100% – and then some. Mary is very amiable with both staff and other advocates, as well as our families, who have always appreciated working with Mary. DCYF thinks very highly of Mary, and frequently and has provided positive feedback to CASA about her hard work on cases.” – Bernadette Melton-Plante, Senior Program Director
All this year’s milestone advocates can be seen at the CASA of NH website at www.casanh.org/annual-celebration.
Award recipients:
Community Partner – CGI Business Solutions
Director’s Award – Anne and Mike Ambrogi
Judicial Service Award – The Hon. Kimberly Chabot
John McDermott Champion of Children Award – Sherry Ermel, bureau chief of field services for the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families
