Name: Carol Costello
Title: Advocacy Supervisor
CASA Employee Since: January 2021
1) What did you do before you worked at CASA?
I did a number of things before arriving at Passaic CASA, including working at Essex County CASA. But immediately before coming here I spent most of last year volunteering as a cook with a community feeding program in Montclair. I had been laid off from my position as a Volunteer Manager with an organization in NYC that provided career services along with clothing for disadvantaged women.
2) Describe your job in five words.
Supporting volunteers in their advocacy.
3) Can you describe what a typical day looks like for you?
A typical day for me includes tracking upcoming court dates and volunteer activities, answering volunteer questions, finding out answers to other questions, assisting with and editing court reports, adding and updating info in our database, attending court hearing(s), making daily to do lists and getting immense satisfaction from checking off items.
4) What is the best part about working for CASA?
Knowing that children in difficult circumstances have another caring and involved adult in their lives.
5) What is the craziest/most unusual thing you’ve done in the name of serving children in foster care?
It's early days yet here in this position so nothing too crazy has happened yet! But when I worked for Essex County CASA I was involved in their annual holiday gift program. Each December I would clock tons of miles on my car picking up donations. The toys would pile up throughout my house until they could be delivered to their intended recipients.
6) When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
When it became apparent that supermodel was not a viable career path for me, somewhere in my early teens I was drawn to law because I wanted to help the underdog. At one point, my particular aspiration was to be the first woman on the Supreme Court. Sandra Day O'Connor crushed that dream for me.
7) What is your go-to comfort food?
Chocolate.
8) What personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble?
My sarcastic sense of humor. It is often misunderstood , but somehow I don't learn and keep it up.
9) What celebrity have people said you resemble or remind them of?
No one person that I can think of, but I am often told that I remind people of someone they know. I think I have one of those faces.
10) If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three items would you bring?
Chocolate (are you sensing a theme?), a thick good book that I wouldn't mind re-reading often, and a companion - one who is easy to talk to and is skilled in wilderness survival (come to think of it, I guess that's my husband).