CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Berks County announced the appointment of three more board members. This brings the total board membership to thirteen. CASA Berks County is the only agency in Berks County solely focused on the rights of child victims of abuse and/or neglect. With an average of 400 child victims each year in Berks County, CASA Berks needs a strong Board of Directors supporting its 50+ volunteer child advocates.
Cassandra Hillegass, with a doctorate in Organizational Leadership and a master’s degree in marketing, joins CASA as its Board Treasurer. Ms. Hillegass is a professor at Central Penn College. She has experience serving on other boards in Berks County.
Tyler Miller, a Berks County Realtor and member of the Board of Directors for the Reading-Berks Association of Realtors, joins CASA’s Board as Chairperson of Strategic Planning. Mr. Miller is a graduate of Leadership Berks, where he learned of the extent of non-profit services available to Berks families. “That really opened my eyes to helping non-profits in Berks,” Miller said. “I’m excited to help make CASA more known in the community.”
Zachary Griffith, an attorney with Barley Snyder, is a magna cum laude graduate of Widener University Delaware Law School after graduating summa cum laude from Albright College in Reading. In law school, Mr. Griffith was a member of the school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, which led to him winning the 2021 Greenwatch Institute Scholarship Award in Memory of Jerry Shields. The school bestows the award annually to an outstanding environmental law student who demonstrated commitment to public interest advocacy. Mr. Griffith looks forward to offering his expertise to CASA’s Board: “This will have a direct impact on the community, but more specifically, children, the most vulnerable of our community members.”
“We are proud of the process CASA Berks has gone through to look at its first five years and develop a strategic plan to grow our impact on Berks County. The new board members are emblematic of our values and vision for the future,” said Board President Kathleen Felker.
