PENACOOK, NH - Crotched Mountain CEO Donald L. Shumway was honored for his service to children and families with the BRUCE E. FRIEDMAN AWARD, presented by New Hampshire Partners in Service (NHPS), a state-wide association of agencies serving children, youth and families. The presentation took place during the NHPS annual meeting held on June 14, 2007 at Camp Spaulding.

"For nearly 30 years, Don Shumway has provided creative advocacy and dedicated service to children and families struggling with a wide variety of disabilities," remarks NHPS President Karen Lamoureux. "He has been at the forefront of many of New Hampshire's most important service initiatives advocating for dignified and respectful solutions to the challenges faced by families throughout the state."

"I am honored and humbled to receive this award," said Mr. Shumway. "We all want to think that we are not really needed – in keeping our schools strong, or our health care high quality, or our vulnerable protected – somebody else will do it. But that just is not the case. Only when each of us stands up and is counted, day after day, for all of our children, our seniors, our neighbors, can we have a future with security and hope. Bruce Friedman stood up, for each of us, every day, and I am honored to be recognized in his name."

Mr. Shumway joined Crotched Mountain in August, 2002, after serving as Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services for the State of New Hampshire. He has served as co-director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative "Self-Determination for Persons with Developmental Disabilities," and as Director of the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services for the State of New Hampshire. He earned his bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, and his master's degree in Social Services from Bryn Mawr College.

The BRUCE E. FRIEDMAN AWARD is given to individuals for "selfless devotion and courageous leadership in child advocacy." The award is named in memory of the noted child and family advocate, Bruce E. Friedman, Esq. (1947-97) who served as a Professor of Law and Director, Civil Practice Clinic, at the Franklin Pierce Law Center. With the help of his students, Professor Friedman won major victories for poor people in the New Hampshire Supreme Court over the State Personnel Commission, Division of Mental Health, Division of Welfare, Department of Employment Security, and Division of Children and Youth. Previous recipients include: Ronald K. Lospennato, Esq., Legal Director of the Disability Rights Center (2002); Representative Mary Jane Wallner, Merrimack-District 12 (2001); and Honorable Justice Edwin W. Kelly, NH Administrative Justice, District and Municipal Courts (2000).

New Hampshire Partners in Service (NHPS) is a private, nonprofit association made up of human service agencies serving high-risk children, adolescents and families throughout the State of New Hampshire. Further information is available through their website: www.nhpartners.org.

Crotched Mountain is a charitable organization employing more than 900 people. Its mission is to serve individuals with disabilities and their families, embracing personal choice and development, and building communities of mutual support. Crotched Mountain provides specialized education, rehabilitation, community, and residential support services for more than 2,000 people annually, at its rehabilitation center in Greenfield, New Hampshire and in communities throughout New Hampshire and in selected locations in Massachusetts, Maine and New York. For more information about Crotched Mountain please visit their web site: www.crotchedmountain.org.