West Windsor residents Paschelle Sutton and Amy Klein are co-chairing Getaway to the Roaring 20s, Court Appointed Special Advocates’ sixth annual benefit evening featuring food, dancing, and a silent auction, at Princeton Airport on Saturday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. CASA provides trained volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the family court. The advocates provide detailed reports on their cases to the Superior Court of New Jersey. Lori Morris, also of West Windsor, is the executive director of CASA of Mercer County.##M:[more]##
Klein, who was born and raised in Palm Springs, California, has lived in West Windsor for seven years. Her father is a retired cardiologist and her mother is a retired therapist and active volunteer for troubled youth including being a board member of CASA in California. “They are both very philanthropic and community oriented, which obviously made a huge impression on me,” she says.
A graduate from UCLA, Class of 1992, she received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. In her life before children, she was the assistant director of a mental health center in Los Angeles.
“Currently, I am happily a full-time mom,” she says. Her husband, Franz Klein, works in marketing for Revlon in New York City. Their children Briana, 11; and Jared, 7, attend WW-P schools.
Three years ago a former CASA board member and friend, Erik Van Slyke, asked Klein to help with an upcoming fundraiser. “At the time, I was looking for a worthy children’s cause to become involved with and this was clearly a wonderful opportunity,” she says. “I was put in charge of the silent auction that year.”
Paschell Sutton, another board member event chair, asked her to co-chair with her the past two years. Sutton, a seventh grade teacher at Grover Middle School, received the Cherish the Child Award from the Mercer County Department of Human Services last spring.
“My husband and children are wonderful,” Klein says. “My CASA commitments take up a lot of my time and definitely change our daily routine for a period of time but they have been supportive and I hope that in the end I’m instilling in my children the same values and example that my parents gave to me.” — Lynn Miller
Getaway to the Roaring 20s, CASA, Princeton Airport, Route 206, 609-434-0050, www.casamercer.org. Tickets, $150. Saturday, April 28, 6:30 p.m.
