June 21, 2010

It has been a little over a week since the 176th Annual Meeting of Children’s Friend was held.  And what a special meeting it was.

Joined by over 350 of our closest friends we reflected on a very successful past year, and looked forward to our future.  20 employees received service awards for 5-20 years of service. Congratulations to Sandra Witherell for celebrating 20 years of service with Children’s Friend.

An appreciation award was presented to Jamee and Michael Flynn who have been foster parents for 20 years, and are still going strong. Members of the 175th Anniversary Steering Committee also received an appreciation award for their efforts in making our anniversary very special and successful.

The Junior League of Rhode Island was presented with the Michelle Norris Award in recognition for their 3 year partnership with Children’s Friend.

We said thank you to Carl Neal for his incredible efforts over the past 3 years as Chairman of the Board, and welcomed Kimberly McCarthy as our new Chairman of the Board.

A special part of the meeting was the performance by Winman Junior High School student, Abby Gregory. Abby beautifully and movingly performed 3 chapters from the life of Harriet Ware, our founder. We all wished Abby well as she took her award winning performance on to a national competition, where she placed in the top 10.