On Friday, Oct. 4, CASA of New Hampshire staff, board, volunteers, donors, community partners and friends gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the statewide child advocacy organization. In addition to reflecting on and celebrating 30 years of life-changing work on behalf of more than 10,000 of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable young citizens, this year’s 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year advocates were recognized. Awards were presented to The Hon. Susan B. Carbon, CASA’s 2019 Judge of the Year; Jeremy Lory, of Keene, CASA’s second recipient of the Linda Egbert Outstanding Advocacy Award; and The. Hon. Willard “Bud” Martin, a retired judge and longtime CASA volunteer advocate who was recognized as the 2019 recipient of the John McDermott Champion of Children award.
Photos and more information from the evening are below.
Thank you to photographer Kendal J. Bush for capturing the evening.

The Hon. Susan B. Carbon, presiding judge of the 9th Circuit Family Division court in Manchester was recognized as the 2019 Judge of the Year. In her remarks to the attendees she thanked CASA’s advocates for making her a better judge and a better person over the years and accepted the award with heartfelt appreciation. “This is an award I have coveted my entire career. There is no greater honor. I can’t even begin to tell you what this award means to me. It is a treasure that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

The Hon. Edwin Kelly, former administrative judge of New Hampshire’s Circuit Courts reflects on 30 years of CASA -- from the first days when CEO and President Marty Sink approached him with an idea that citizen volunteers be welcomed into the courtroom to advocate for children in highly sensitive and private abuse and neglect cases to today where more than 10,000 children have been served by one of these advocates.
“Fred was always there, he has never let Matthew down. When he said he would be somewhere you could bet he would be there and not just out of obligation, he really enjoyed being a part of Matthew’s life. Through all of this, it still took me until we were placed with our second child to realize fully and appreciate CASA’s part in Matthew’s story because he doesn’t have a CASA, he has a GAL who’s only met him two times in the 57 months he’s been away from his family. I feel like every child needs someone like Fred whose commitment and persistence can give him hope where so far there has been very little.”
Michelle LaBranche

Thirteen CASA volunteer advocates celebrated 10 years with the organization this year. Five of them in attendance included, from left, Mike LaRoche of Hudson, Lisa Maronski of Bedford, Amy Kaufman of Newfields, Denise Burgess and Stephanie DiMarzio, both of Londonderry. Also in attendance, but not pictured, was Bob Landry of Laconia.

This year, an astounding 41 volunteer advocates celebrated their fifth anniversary of providing a voice in court for New Hampshire′s most vulnerable children. Among them were, from left, Peter Bixby and Frieda Yueh of Laconia, Jeremy Lory of Keene, Kerry Greene of Manchester and Gale Stanley of Candia.

: CASA staff and board members applaud artist Richard Haynes who created the beautiful “For the Child” print for CASA a few years ago. At the 30th Annual Celebration, staff and board members presented President and CEO Marty Sink with another Haynes print “Love” in celebration of her vision, passion and leadership since founding CASA of New Hampshire in 1989.