Meet the CASA Board: Seven Questions for Lindsay R. Janel

Name: Lindsay R. Janel

1)       How long have you been connected with Passaic County CASA and what attracted you to the organization?

I have been involved with Passaic County CASA since the spring of 2013, when I was asked to be a Board Member. What immediately struck me about CASA was the direct impact each CASA had on the children served – I knew I wanted to be part of an organization with such a hands on, grassroots mentality. 

  2)       Being on a non-profit board of directors requires time and hard work.  What keeps you motivated to participate?

The fact that we are constantly meeting and exceeding our goals to serve every child in Passaic County who needs a CASA. 

 3)      When you are not working with CASA, how do you spend your time?

I have my own law practice that demands quite a bit of my time! Other than that, I enjoy doing things with my own young child and husband. We especially love going to the shore, looking for “critters” in the ocean, collecting seashells and going to the Boardwalk (when it’s not a pandemic!). 

4)       What is your most special memory from your time working with CASA? 

I don’t have a specific or special memory because each story of a child successfully getting out of the foster care system, or successfully “aging out” of the system because of the work and dedication of a CASA is special to me. To know that a child’s life and future has been indelibly changed in a positive way from the work done at Passaic County CASA is special in its own right. 

5)       If money were no object, how would you spend the rest of your life?

I would likely still work, but would focus my energy more into public service, like Legal Aid. I worked at Legal Services of Atlantic County when I first graduated law school and I was able to see, very much in the same way I see with CASA, how rewarding it is to help those in need in a direct, hands on way. 

6)       If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

CANDY, COOKIES, CAKES, CANDY, COOKIES, CAKES, on repeat 

7)       What is your all-time favorite movie?

I don’t have a favorite movie but I have a favorite Book – The Razors Edge by Somerset Maugham.

Welcome new Advocacy Supervisors Marian Golan and Tiffany Mendoza!

By Laura Warne
Communications Coordinator

Passaic County CASA has had a staff of fifteen for some time, so it’s a rare occasion to have a new employee join the team. Even more rare is to have two new employees start on the same day.

However, that is just what happened last Wednesday -- the day after the election -- for Passaic County CASA's two newest staff members: Marian Golan and Tiffany Mendoza. A former school psychologist, Marian joins us as a part-time Advocacy Supervisor to help cover cases previously supervised by Sarah During, who is transitioning from Senior Advocacy Supervisor to State Coordinator for the brand new Safe Babies Court Team program. Tiffany is filling the Bilingual Case Supervisor role previously held by Keisha Maldonado, who moved to North Carolina.

In addition to sharing a first day at Passaic County CASA, it also turns out that both Tiffany and Marian have New York connections. Marian was raised in Brooklyn and attended schools exclusively within the five boroughs, all the way through to her PhD. Tiffany was most recently working for a large New York City non-profit where she was assisting homeless individuals find permanent housing.

Both Tiffany and Marian have impressive professional backgrounds serving vulnerable populations and "helping to make the world a better place." We are honored and excited to have their skills and expertise at Passaic County CASA.

Welcome Nicole Pena, new CASA Intern!

By Laura Warne
Communications Coordinator

We are happy to welcome new Intern Nicole Pena to the Passaic County CASA team! She is a senior at William Paterson University, double majoring in Psychology and Criminology & Criminal Justice. Nicole will be assisting us with many different responsibilities, but she will be focusing a great deal of her time on our Neighborhood Assistance Program.

After graduation, Nicole hopes to work in the criminal justice system, or any other opportunity that might allow her to speak up for individuals in need.

Nicole is bilingual and grew up in New Jersey. In her free time, Nicole is a dancer, especially ballet, and frequently travels to New York to take lessons and to perform. She is also the mother of a two year old girl and enjoys spending time with her.

A "Normal" Halloween

By Laura Warne
Communications Coordinator

My inner eight year old is NOT happy that Halloween is looking very different this year. For as long as I can remember, it has always been one of my favorite holidays. One day a year I could be anything I wanted to be? The possibilities seemed limitless. I would start thinking about what I wanted to dress up as over the summer, and after my ideas started to fall outside the realm of those available at Party City, I learned to sew my own.

If the holiday was also a school day, that was extra exciting. We would wear our costumes to school and admire each other's choices. There might be a school party or parade, but no matter what it was a fun day filled with candy and excitement about the evening's trick-or-treating. Friends might plan to go out together and strategize about which neighborhoods gave away the best candy. After returning home, we would dump out our loot and assess the night's take.

I remember one Halloween when I was in high school, my best friend and I decided we were going to be angels and build our own wings. We painstakingly hot glued individual feathers onto wire frames crafted from wire coat hangers covered in nylon pantyhose. We spent hours in my living room making them exactly as we envisioned.

For children in foster care, however, they may not have this same knowledge of what even constitutes a "normal" Halloween. Being in a new home and living among strangers doesn't lend itself to celebrating with as much childlike joy as I recall having every year. I'd like to think that every child in foster care gets to pick out their favorite costume and has someone who will take them trick-or-treating, but I have to imagine that doesn't always happen. And friends to coordinate costumes with or celebrate with at school? Not if a child is living far from home or recently had to move to a new school because their foster home placement changed. Even DIY costume options would probably be limited if a child has only a few clothes to pick from.

My disappointment about this year's Halloween and how different it will look pales in comparison to the routine disappointment children in foster care might face as their favorite holidays approach. Not being able to celebrate how you want is hard, and this pandemic is giving us all just a small taste of what that is like for children in foster care, whose lives are often far from “normal.”

I asked CASA staff what Halloween looked like for them as children, and you’d be surprised how differently this holiday was celebrated! When the day arrives, I hope that children still experience the joy of the holiday, even though it might look a little different than other years.

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Sarah During, Senior Advocacy Supervisor:

When I was a child, my mother made my costumes out of old dresses, old towels, or fabric she had around. I was allowed to pick whatever I wanted to be, as long as it was not "demonic." That meant I could not be a devil, a witch, or something "evil" or scary.

My most favorite costume ever was a genie, because when I was seven my favorite show was I Dream of Jeannie, which was shown on the American/English Language channel. It was shiny pink and I wore it with a ballet leotard underneath.

We went trick or treating every year, always with a parent. I don't remember going when we lived overseas, except for having parties in school.

However, once we got back to the US we always trick-or-treated with two of my favorite cousins. We would meet up for a quick dinner and then go trick-or-treating, but only to the houses where we knew people. Then we went to both of my grandparents' houses and went trick-or-treating at a few houses in their neighborhood (where we knew people). We were not allowed to go to strangers' homes. After we moved when I was ten years old, we stopped trick-or-treating because the homes were too spread out.

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Jill Rebeor, Advocacy Supervisor

I was able to pick my own Halloween costume, and depending on what I wanted to be, we'd either buy the costume or my mom made it. On Halloween, my mom would drive us to my grandmother's house so we could trick-or-treat and so that my grandmother could see us. Then we would stop by my aunt's house, which was great because she gave out full size candy bars and always filled a lunch size paper bag for each of us individually. I think visiting family members was also a way to show off our costumes because Halloween night (in Central New York) was always cold and often snowy, so we had to cover our costumes with our winter jackets.

Then we'd go back home and my dad walked us around the neighborhood trick-or-treating, always after dusk. Then my sisters and I would come home, dump out our candy, sort it and trade with one another. And if we were feeling nice, we'd give my parents some, usually the stuff no one wanted like Raisinets, Necco Wafers and those weird old fashioned peanut butter candies. 

I have so many favorite Halloween costumes! One year, there was a Halloween costume contest, and I won! I think it was second grade or maybe third, and I can't recall what I won, but I've included the picture of my costume--I was an old lady. Many people thought I was Estelle from the Golden Girls though.  I used one of my mom's wigs (she had had cancer previously and apparently kept the wig, which came in handy), my mom's shoes and I have no idea where the dress or purse came from. I do remember buying the glasses.

Another year, while I was dressed as a princess, we stopped by my aunt's house and there was a werewolf setup on her front porch. Little did I know that werewolf was my uncle! He jumped up as we knocked on the door, I screamed and ran back to the car, losing one of my shoes on the way. That was one year that it was snowing. I remember my foot being soaked but I was so scared that I wouldn't get out of the car to get my shoe, or even the bag of candy that she had for us!

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Gina Cetta, Program Director:

I grew up in Pennsylvania, and trick-or-treating was only permitted for a two hour window, from 5:00 - 7:00 pm. If homes were participating, their porch light was left on. When I moved to New Jersey, I was shocked that trick-or-treating could happen at any time of the day. 

Costumes were always hand-made/assembled by my mom. Favorites of mine and my sisters included a prima ballerina, a 50's girl, an old lady, and Tinkerbell. At school, we would have a Halloween parade for the parents to attend.

My dad would always take my sisters and me trick-or-treating, while my mom stayed home to pass out candy. I have a fond memory of my dad wearing a multi-colored tinsel wig one year. We lived in a neighborhood with lots of houses that were close together so we always got a ton of candy in just 2 hours!

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Jessica Mickley, Director of Training and Outreach:

Each year, a Halloween-obsessed family in the neighborhood transformed their backyard and basement into a truly impressive haunted attraction. For every Halloween in elementary and middle school, we would trick-or-treat around the neighborhood and then head over to The Haunted House. Maybe it had a more official name, but I certainly didn't know it, and neither did my friends. Everyone just knew it as THE Haunted house.

And every year, I would wait on the front lawn, as close to the street as possible (in case I needed to run from a rogue "ghost") as my friends screamed and scrambled their way through the Haunted House. Once or twice I was brave enough to wait in line, but quickly bailed when I got close enough to the entrance to see the horrors ahead.

Until one year (when I was a lot older than I'd like to admit), I found the courage to step inside. I gripped my friend's arms tightly and kept my eyes mostly closed, but I made it through, past the backyard's cemetery scene, past the basement covered in guts and gore, and out to the fresh air.  That feeling of accomplishment still is unparalleled!

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Michelle Schaefer, Director of Strategy and Reporting:

My mom was always the master of homemade Halloween costumes.  One year I was R2D2.  Another year she made a juice box costume, complete with a hand-drawn Juicy Juice logo and a vacuum cleaner hose attached to the box as the straw.  I think one year I won a prize at school for creativity when she dressed me up as a Lipton tea bag (white pillow cases full of leaves, hanging in front of me and behind me and a hand-drawn Lipton tea tag on a string, hanging from my shoulder). 

When Halloween was rainy one year, she improvised and made me a black plastic garbage bag costume, with an M&M logo on the front, sealed under clear mailing tape.  I looked like a bag of M&Ms, and I remember trick-or-treating through my neighborhood with friends who were soaking wet in soggy costumes, while I was dry and warm in my M&M trash bag.  The M&M bag costume was "recycled" several times over the years, whenever rain hit on Halloween.

Meet the CASA Staff: Ten Questions for Keisha Maldonado

Name: Keisha Maldonado
Title: Bilingual Advocacy Supervisor
CASA Employee Since: September 2017

1)       What did you do before you worked at CASA?

I was attending college and interning at CASA before joining staff in 2018. Before that, I was a NYC nanny for a year, and then an Infant/Toddler Teacher at a daycare.

  2)       Describe your job in five words.

Advocating for children in Spanish.

 3)       Can you describe what a typical day looks like for you?

Oh boy...it's different every day. My days usually involve a lot of phone calls, speaking with volunteers, attending Court hearings, and writing and editing court reports.

4)       What is the best part about working for CASA?

Working with children and families. The staff is pretty great, too!

5)       What is the craziest/most unusual thing you’ve done in the name of serving children in foster care?

About a year ago, Pam and I were picking up boxes at our offsite storage unit, aka "the Dungeon." While climbing over boxes, I stumbled upon a rat-shaped blob...It was too dark for me to identify what it was. Once Pam confirmed that it was indeed a dead rat, we ran out screaming! I'm pretty sure we cried a little bit.

6)       When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to work in a lab and develop cosmetics and lotions. Then, when I was in high school, I wanted to be a geneticist. Somehow I ended up working with children and families!

7)       What is your go-to comfort food?

My mama's cooking. I never say no to ceviche, guatita, llapingachos (with the peanut sauce, chorizo, pickled onions, and avocado slices of course), or a bowl of fanesca!

8)       What personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble?

I don’t know how to say “NO”!

9)       What celebrity have people said you resemble or remind them of?

I was once told I looked like Princess Jasmine because of my eyebrows. Does that count?

10)   If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three items would you bring?

A hammock, sunscreen, and a blanket.