Friends of NH Drug Courts Celebrates Milestones at Annual Meeting, Presents Inaugural Bob Gasser Hope Award

Concord, NH -- The Friends of NH Drug Courts gathered Thursday evening at The Common Man in Concord for its annual meeting, an event marked by personal stories, community celebration, and the inaugural presentation of the Bob Gasser Hope Award.

Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais delivered the keynote address, drawing on his own experience in long-term recovery to make the case for drug courts and the organizations that support them. Board President Tony Naro opened the evening, sharing highlights from a year in which the organization distributed over $100,000 in grants to drug court participants across New Hampshire.

Mayor Ruais: "A Deeply Personal Mission"

Mayor Ruais, who has been open about his own recovery journey since his 2023 mayoral campaign, brought a rare candor to the podium. He described how his willingness to speak publicly about being in recovery had, unexpectedly, already changed lives.

"When you were running for mayor and you were open about your own recovery, I had just started drug court and I wanted to leave," Ruais recounted being told by a participant after his first drug court graduation as mayor. "And then I heard that there was some guy running for mayor who talked openly about being in recovery. I thought to myself, if he can get to that point, then I can get through drug court."

That encounter, Ruais said, cemented a commitment. "For as long as I am mayor, I will be at every drug court graduation that I can be."

Ruais connected his personal history to the science of addiction, explaining how the brain's frontal lobe — the center of decision-making — is compromised during active addiction but heals over time with sustained recovery. It's why he sees drug court's accountability structure not as punitive, but as essential.

"Addiction is the only disease that tells you you're well," he said. "Drug court, that accountability portion of it, is so incredibly important."

He also reflected on the power of second chances, acknowledging that he himself received them when it counted most. "Nobody wants to be judged by the worst decision they've ever made in their life," he said. "People are fundamentally good, and people with addiction issues, mental health issues — fundamentally amazing people."

To anyone in recovery in the room, the mayor had a direct message: "The sky is the limit. Find something you are passionate in, something that you can wake up every day and say, 'This is what I want to dedicate my life to.'"

The Inaugural Bob Gasser Hope Award

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the first-ever Bob Gasser Hope Award to Thomas Raffio, president and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental.

Board member Jennifer Gasser, daughter of FNHDC founder Robert Gasser, presented the award. She traced her father's remarkable journey: a New Jersey attorney who, in the mid-1990s, was asked to develop one of the first drug courts in Ocean County, a role he knew nothing about, but embraced fully.

"It was a moment that would define the rest of his life," Jennifer said. "He found his passion at 60 years old."

Bob Gasser went on to become a national pioneer in drug court philosophy, traveling with a team at the request of the Department of Justice to help other states launch alternative sentencing programs.

After "retiring" to New Hampshire, he threw himself into building drug courts here, making the case one conversation at a time to judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement.

"He became known as the crazy man from New Jersey who was talking about this new idea," she said. "But his passion was unstoppable."

That passion gave rise to FNHDC itself. When participants would press small cash donations into her father's hands — five dollars, ten dollars, one hundred — to help with Christmas gifts for children or gas cards, it became clear that something more formal was needed. Friends of New Hampshire Drug Courts was born from those early acts of faith.

"My dad believed in hope," Jennifer said. "He believed drug courts provided hope for a better life."

The award went to Raffio in recognition of Northeast Delta Dental's sustained partnership with FNHDC and his broader commitment to expanding access to dental care for underserved populations. Before announcing the recipient, Jennifer shared a note from a participant whose dental work had been funded through FNHDC grants:

"I just wanted to say thank you once again for funding to get my teeth fixed. This means more to me than you guys know. For a while now, I've been holding back from smiling and showing my teeth because of the damage I've done to them over the years when I was still using drugs. Now that I'm sober, I've still held back from smiling all the way because of the past. And now because of the help from everyone, I can smile with full confidence."

"Hope is a powerful word," Jennifer said. "It gives permission to think about a brighter future."

Accepting the award, Raffio praised FNHDC's all-volunteer board for the practical difference their work makes. "You cannot have any self-esteem if you're not feeling good about your teeth," he said, describing the medical-dental connections that make oral health central to overall recovery. He drew a parallel to Northeast Delta Dental's longstanding veteran dental fund, which the company established after learning that a congressional glitch left most veterans ineligible for VA dental services.

"In true New Hampshire style, we said, 'We're not gonna wait for that congressional glitch to be solved,'" Raffio said. The fund now directs roughly $300,000 annually to veteran dental care in New Hampshire — a model later extended to Maine and Vermont.

His message to the FNHDC board was simple and direct: "Ask for more."

A Year of Impact, and a Next Chapter

The evening also marked an opportunity to share FNHDC's 2025 impact. Board President Naro opened with a challenge to the room: think about the numbers.

"What do we have in our lives that works 82% of the time? Not much," he said, citing the drug court system's conviction-free rate among graduates. He translated that statistic into human terms: of 1,000 drug court participants, 820 remain conviction free — meaning 820 suspended prison sentences never imposed, even using the most conservative estimate of a one-year minimum.

"That's 820 years not spent in prison," Naro said. "820 years of prison sentences not paid for by taxpayer dollars. 820 years of members of our community spending time with their families, raising their children. It's 820 years of lives saved."

On the grant-making side, the organization distributed $103,000 last year, supporting 189 individuals through 243 grants across five categories: essential needs, transportation, housing, health and dental care, and job training and education.

Since expanding statewide in 2015, FNHDC has distributed more than $400,000 in grants to participants across New Hampshire's ten drug courts, Federal LASER Court, Sullivan County Family Treatment Court, and the Hillsborough County Young Adult Court.

The evening ended on a celebratory note when the organization reached the $30,000 goal of its Double the Hope Matching Challenge, a fundraising campaign in which every dollar donated was matched, dollar for dollar. The milestone means $60,000 in total new resources for drug court participants.

The evening also marked a leadership transition. It was Naro's final night as board president after years of service guiding the organization. Incoming President Lara Saffo, who will assume the role as Naro transitions to Immediate Past President, addressed the room with both gratitude and ambition.

"Because of your leadership, we have continued to achieve something remarkable," Saffo said of Naro, whose commitment to the organization, she noted, would continue in his new role. "Together, we distributed 243 grants totaling over $100,000. That number is not just impressive — it's transformative. Each grant represents an individual given an opportunity, a second chance, a path forward. It represents hope."

Saffo outlined two major goals for the 2026–27 year: hiring a part-time executive director to help professionalize and expand the organization's operations, and developing an endowment to secure FNHDC's long-term future.

"We have reached the limits of what our incredible volunteer network can sustain on its own," she said. "To take the next step — to grow, to expand, and to ensure long-term sustainability — we need to evolve."

She closed on a note of optimism: "The foundation has been built over a decade ago, the house has been built. The impact is real. And the future is full of possibility."