Large Class Of Citizens To Help Youth

Dec. 22, 2009

Judge Gilman (left) and Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Ed Via (right) welcomed this year’s large CASA class.

The 2009 class of volunteers for Hanover County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates program for children (CASA) were sworn in by Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Larry Gilman on December 15.

CASA is devoted to serving the interests of abused and neglected children who are involved in cases being heard by the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. This year’s volunteers received 36-plus hours of intensive, specialized training that will enable them to speak for these children and seek the best outcome for them.

Over the 21 years this program has been in Hanover County, nearly 150 citizens have volunteered for CASA and more than 400 children have been helped. This year CASA volunteers gave more than 1,200 hours of service and provided much-needed advocacy for 26 children.

The 2009 class consists of Jan Brubaker, Allison Burton, Mary Childs, Tracy Cook, TJ Eller, Joanna Hughes, Ingrid Kampinga, Iqbal (Ike) Khan, Diane Murphy, Este Newbey-Howard, Delores Pacileo, Amy Seward and Janice Zyglocke. At 13 members, this is one of the largest Hanover CASA classes ever.

They were congratulated by Ed Via, Vice Chairman of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors; Ivy Sager, Director of Hanover’s Department of Community Resources, which supervises the program; and Melanie Baker, CASA Coordinator.

“These are citizens who not only care about their community but are willing to do something about it,” said Judge Gilman. “It’s a big commitment and I thank you for making it.”

Click for more information about Hanover’s CASA program.