Donors, students, alumni, families, and longtime supporters of Children’s Scholarship Fund New Hampshire gathered at The Farmhouse at Candia Woods on September 24 for the 2026 Donor Appreciation Reception, an evening celebrating the people who have helped expand educational opportunities for New Hampshire families over the past decade.
Sponsored by Grappone Automotive Group, Outschool, UHY, Centeras Private Wealth, and the Diocese of Manchester, the reception brought together some of CSF New Hampshire’s earliest supporters with students and families benefiting from that generosity today.
CSF Executive Director Kate Baker Demers told those gathered that she was humbled to look around the room and see people who had been part of the organization’s work from the beginning. Their support has added up over the years.
Darla Romfo, President and CEO of the national Children’s Scholarship Fund, also joined the celebration and addressed the donors, families, and supporters at Candia Woods, connecting the work taking place in New Hampshire with CSF’s broader mission of expanding educational opportunities for children and families.
Much of the evening, though, belonged to the families and students who have experienced the impact of that work firsthand.
Kelly Santos, an Education Freedom Ambassador and mother of a son with special education needs, returned repeatedly to the word “opportunity” as she shared her family’s experience.
After years of trying to secure the educational support her son needed, Santos and her family eventually found another path through CSF. An Education Freedom Account and Education Tax Credit scholarship helped make it possible for her son, James, to attend Bishop Guertin, a school that better fit his needs.
Santos spoke directly to the donors in the room about what their support means for families like hers. For parents searching for the right environment for their children, she explained, having other options can make an enormous difference.
CSF alumna Alyssa Sosa-Molina offered the perspective of a student who has already seen where such an opportunity can lead.
Sosa-Molina moved from homeschooling into a private school with the help of an Education Freedom Account and CSF Scholarship, gaining access to a more structured and challenging environment and new opportunities to grow academically and personally. Today, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in international diplomacy.
Standing before many of the people whose generosity has made it possible for families pursue those choices, Sosa-Molina summed up her gratitude simply.
“There aren’t enough words to say thank you,” she said.
Amanda Grappone Osmer, owner of presenting sponsor Grappone Automotive Group, drew a comparison between education and her own experience leading a workforce. Her employees have different personalities, strengths and motivations, she noted, and what brings out the best in one person may not work for another. The same is true of students, who can flourish in different settings and under different approaches to learning.
The reception also recognized Sen. Ruth Ward with Children Scholarship Fund’s 2026 Champion for Children Award, honoring a decade of work supporting education freedom during her ten years in the New Hampshire Senate.
As she prepares to conclude her Senate service, Ward reflected on what education means beyond a student’s years in the classroom. She spoke about young people growing into adults and becoming good citizens, a reminder that the effects of an education can reach well beyond graduation.
That longer view was fitting for an evening that honored donors, some of whom have supported CSF New Hampshire since its earliest days.
A scholarship can help a student attend a school for a year, but its significance extends well beyond a single year. The teachers a student encounters, and the confidence gained in the right environment, along with the opportunities that follow continue to shape his or her life afterward.
Thursday’s reception offered longtime supporters a chance to meet some of the people on the other side of that generosity: a mother who found a better fit for her son, an alumna preparing for the next stage of her education, and families whose choices were made possible in part by people willing to invest in them.
Over the past decade, those individual decisions to give have provided thousands of scholarships across New Hampshire. For the donors gathered at Candia Woods, the evening was a chance to see what some of those scholarships have meant after the checks were written and the school years ended.
And for the students and families who joined them, it was a chance to say thank you.
