CASA-NYC’s 13th annual Spring Gala, A Time for Heroes, took place on May 16, 2017 at Marquee New York. It featured a performance by comedian Monroe Martin; moving speeches by Executive Director, Kerry Moles and 2018 Spring Gala honorees, Scott Koondel and Karen Azoulay; a celebrity tribute film to the honorees; and an action-packed live auction and paddle raise.

Monroe Martin, a former foster youth, kicked off the evening by regaling guests with his life experiences in foster care. His ability “to tell his story with honesty and humor is a great example of the kind of resilience we see in foster youth every day,” commented Kerry Moles. Ms. Moles talked about the impact of CASA Advocates in a city that saw a sharp increase in the number of abuse and neglect cases in family court last year.  CASA-NYC has responded by doubling its efforts to provide one-on-one advocacy for foster children.

Guests were treated to a short video tribute of the honorees and CASA, featuring National CASA spokespeople Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw, Academy Award winner Alison Janney and Judge Judy Sheindlin.

The first recipient of the CASA Hero Award was Karen Azoulay, who has served as a volunteer Advocate for six years and has had a tremendous impact in helping reunite families, facilitating adoption and empowering youth to live independently. Ms. Moles described her as “a woman [who] usually gets her way, which is the absolute best quality in a CASA Advocate.”

Ms. Moles also presented the CASA Hero Award to CBS Executive Vice President and former foster youth Scott Koondel, whose resourcefulness and resiliency helped him overcome abuse and neglect while in the NYC foster care system as a child.   Mr. Koondel now uses his platform in the entertainment industry to raise awareness and support for CASA and many other liked-minded organizations, in hopes that children in foster care today will get the protection and support that he did not.

Before guests retired to conversation and to the beats of DJ Dan Guerra, auctioneer Charles Antin presented a live auction featuring several experience packages. Guests eagerly bid on an all-expense trip to Los Angeles to have a family dispute mediated by Judge Judy, exclusive tickets and access to the New York Mets, a private group dinner at Little Owl the Townhouse, a private group tasting at Moët Hennessy, and an opportunity to host a Bowlmor party for CASA-NYC’s Youth Leadership Council. The auction was followed by a live paddle raise in which dozens of generous guests participated to help us raise more than $400,000.

Many thanks to our sponsors, supporters and more than 325 guests for helping to make CASA-NYC’s 2018 A Time for Heroes Spring Gala our most successful event ever!

A Word Of Thanks

On behalf of CASA-NYC’s staff, board of directors and the children we serve, thank you to all who joined us and who made this evening possible!

Sponsors

Akerman
Brookfield Property Partners
CBRE
CBS Corporation
Comcast NBC Universal
Eaton Partners
Euclid Transactional
EvensonBest
Genseler
Jessica and Todd Aaron
Heather and Joshua Benn
Lauren Gullion
Cindy Holland
Laurent Lisimachio
Jim Martin
Kari and David Robbins
Joanne & Rich Seelaus
Andrea and Adam Taetle
Kramer Levin
Lower Manhattan Community Church
Skadden
The CW
Virginia Aaron
Shannon and David Barden
Missy and Rocco Basile
Sarah and Stuart Britton
Firth Calhoun
Julie Safer Cooper and Steve Cooper
Grace Cowan
Jennifer and Eric Friedland
The Marcy and Alan Honig Charitable Foundation
Charlotte and Adam Fuller
Emily and Huntley Garriott
Eileen Libutti and Brian Steel
Navid and Joanne Mahmoodzadegan
Don Matteson
Pauline Nakios
Marlaine Olinick
Henrietta Pertuz
Jeanine and Louis Salvatore
Bree Sheahan and Scott Twibell
Anne and Stacy Wall
Abigail Weinshank

Co-Chairs

Shannon Barden
Missy Basile
Heather Benn
Kari Robbins
Bree Sheahan
Andrea Taetle

Host Committee

Jessica Aaron
Cathleen Clements
Leah Coakley
Emma Fine
Lisa Frenette
Emily Garriott
Merritt Greene
Danielle V. Greenberg
Vikram Kumar
Julianne Kwon
Eileen Libutti and Brian Steel
Cara and Dan Marriott
Hedy Matteson
Tom and Loraine Morgan
Jeane and Nicolas Muniz
Purvi Padia
Dorie Paparo
Susan and Sean Paroff
Saydra Battersby Quintanilla
Shelley Rapp
Frances Reilly
Dr. Julie Russak and Andrew Sorokin
Julie Safer
Allison Schoenthal
Eric Slovin
Marissa Soroudi
Charell Star
David Tackel
Jami Mills Vibbert
Zach Weiss
Abigail Weinshank
Hillary and Justin Wyatt