Nominated by Congressman Greg Walden, the Masons are honored for their commitment to children through adoption, foster care work

September 14, 2005 - WASHINGTON, DC -
U.S. Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR) today met with Tillamook residents Shary and Don Mason, who are in Washington, D.C. to be honored as Congressional Angels in Adoption™ for 2005 by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), of which Walden is a member.  The Masons, nominated by Walden for their dedication to establishing stables homes for children through adoption, were two of only 191 honorees selected nationwide, four of whom are from Oregon.  This year’s Angels were honored last night at a recognition ceremony and gala.
 
With seven children of their own, Don and Shary are also the adoptive parents of their niece, eight-year-old Brianna Mason, and the legal guardians of their grandson, five-year-old Random Sahr, both special needs children.  Shary, who co-chaired Oregon’s Adoption Task Force, is a program director for the Oregon Department of Justice’s Citizen Review Board, a “statewide foster-care review program of citizen volunteers to help state courts ensure that case plans and services meet the needs of children in foster care and youth offenders in the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority” (Oregon Department of Justice).  Don is a former city manager and municipal court judge as well as a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War.
 
“Don and Shary are truly a gift to the children they have so warmly welcomed into their lives.  Their compassion has helped provide Brianna and Random with a stable home and an environment in which their needs can be met,” said Walden.  “Additionally, Shary’s work with the Citizen Review Board helps countless other children by ensuring they live in a safe and permanent home and helping youth offenders break the cycle and become productive, successful members of society.”
 
CCAI is a non?partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to raising congressional and public awareness about the tens of thousands of foster children in this country and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes.
 
The Angel in Adoption™ program, created in 1999, is a unique opportunity for federal legislators to recognize individuals from their home states that have made a commitment to improving the lives of children and families through adoption.  In addition, the program raises public awareness of the many different ways all individuals can help the more than 535,000 children in need of adoptive homes here in the United States.
 
PHOTO: Congressman Walden (left) meets with 2005 Angels in Adoption™ Don and Shary Mason along with the Mason’s adopted daughter, eight-year-old Brianna Mason, and their grandson, five-year-old Random Sahr, of whom they are legal guardians, in his Washington, D.C. office during their visit to the nation’s capital for the Congressional Angels in Adoption™ ceremony.
 
Congressman Walden represents the Second Congressional District of Oregon, which includes 20 counties in southern, central and eastern Oregon. He is a Deputy Whip in the House leadership structure and a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as well as the Committee on Resources.