Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Event: Bergen CASA for Children Holds Casino Night: WNBC Co-Anchor Pat Battle to Emcee

WNBC Co-Anchor of Weekend Today
in New York Pat Battle
will Emcee Bergen CASA's Annual Gala
Have some fun and benefit children in foster care at the same timeCASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for Children of Bergen County is holding its 15th Annual Event: Casino Night: All In for the Children on  March 13, 2019 from 6:30pm - 10:30pm at Seasons, 644 Pascack Road in Washington Township, NJ.  Tickets are $135. Included in the ticket price is a wide array of hors d’oeuvres, food stations and desserts, open bar and $100 in casino play money. There will also be basket raffle, silent auction with mobile bidding and other games in addition to exciting casino-style play throughout the evening. To purchase a ticket, please visit the website, www.BergenCASA.org or call 201-336-7520 for tickets and information. Donations for the evening's auctions and raffles are always welcome.  If interested in donating an item or service, please contact Ellen Davis, Executive Director, at EllenDavis@BergenCASA.org or call the office.

"At this year’s event, CASA for Children of Bergen County is honored to present our Annual Angel Awards to Suzanne Ordas Curry, Past President, Karen Cedzidlo, Past VP, and  Attorney Debra E. Guston, states Zonie LeSane, President. "We are also extremely proud to announce that Pat Battle, award-winning WNBC journalist and co-anchor of NBC 4 New York's Weekend Today in New York will emcee our event. Pat is a proud resident of Bergen County and has long devoted her time to helping people and organizations serving children in need."


Zonie adds, "Both Suzanne and Karen have made a significant impact to our program by restructuring and revitalizing it during their tenure. Debra E. Guston has made the difference in so many lives fighting for the rights of families. We are a small non-profit and realize the tremendous difference a person can make. All of these astounding women deserve this recognition. " states  Zonie Le Sane, President.  She adds, "We are an organization based on volunteers so of course at this event we will also be recognizing the outstanding work of our advocates."  

CASA advocates are volunteers that advocate on behalf of the county’s abused and neglected children and work to ensure that needed services and assistance are made available to these children while helping them move toward safe and permanent homes as quickly as possible.  CASA volunteers are assigned to only one case; either one child or one family of children at a time, which allows them to devote an enormous amount of time to that child so that he/she does not slip through the cracks of the judicial and child welfare systems.  In short, the CASA volunteer is an open-minded and unbiased voice for the child in the court process and a consistent and caring person in the child’s life.  

About the Honorees:   
      
Suzanne Ordas Curry Angel Award Recipient 2019

Suzanne Ordas Curry has been with Bergen CASA since 2011, serving as President for four years. She owns a PR firm and produces independent films which run in theaters and on demand.

Karen Cedzidlo Angel Award Recipient 2019

Karen Cedzidlo has also been with Bergen CASA since 2011, serving as Vice President for four years. She has been an executive at Panasonic for over 2 decades. 

Debra E. Guston, Angel Award Recipient 2019

Debra E. Guston, Esquire is a highly-recognized and awareded Bergen County Lawyer and lecturer known for her extraordinary work in dealing and advocating for  adoption, LGBT, reproductive and family rights. 

Currently, there are more children in foster care in Bergen County than CASA has the volunteers or financial resources, to handle, and Bergen County CASA's goal is to have an advocate for every child. Advocates are always needed and additional funds help us grow the program. If interested in becoming a CASA volunteer, please visit the website and sign up for an information session.
  
For more information on CASA, email info@bergencasa.org or visit www.bergencasa.org. If you would like to make a monetary donation, would like to know how to become a CASA volunteer or would like to know other ways to help, please call Ellen Davis, Executive Director at 201-336-7520 or visit our website. CASA is located at One Bergen County Plaza in Hackensack.

More About Pat Battle:

Pat Battle is the co-anchor for NBC 4 New York’s “Weekend Today in New York” which airs Saturday mornings between 6:00 A.M. – 7:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. – 10:00 A.M. and on Sunday mornings between 6:00 A.M. – 8:30 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M. Battle also serves as the station’s senior New Jersey correspondent and has covered many breaking news stories in the Garden State as well as the breaking news of the day. As part of NBC 4’s team-coverage of Hurricane Sandy, she won a National Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award.

An energetic and dynamic reporter, Battle's outgoing personality, her compassion, sincerity and her ability to relate to people has endeared her to viewers. Whether celebrating their successes or relating their challenges, Battle has told countless stories with her uniquely personal touch. She is tough when she has to be, tender when she needs to be, always fair and consistently credible.

In the fall of 2013, Pat realized a longtime dream with the creation of “The Good Fight”: a regular segment in the newscast dedicated to telling stories about the good things people are doing in and for their communities and neighbors.

“I’ve spent 20 years out in the field talking to people and one of the things I hear most often is that the news is always bad, and therefore, difficult for some people to watch,” Pat says. “Whether it’s a beauty salon owner making expensive human hair wigs and giving them to women fighting cancer or a man collecting old iPods to give the gift of music to people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia - there is no shortage of good people out there doing great things. I am so privileged to be able to share those stories on News 4 New York and so proud that our management team supports me in that endeavor.”

Pat joined NBC 4 New York in April 1996 from WCBS-TV, where for three and a half years she was a general assignment reporter handling breaking news stories in the tri-state area. Her work earned her recognition as one of the best live reporters in the region.

Prior to WCBS-TV, she worked in a similar capacity for NBC-owned station WCAU-TV in Philadelphia covering the Delaware Valley area and hosting a weekly public affairs program with an in-studio audience. Battle also worked as a general assignment reporter, back-up anchor and host of a weekly public affairs program for the New Jersey Network News in Trenton for three years before moving on to work in Philadelphia.


Battle began her career as a newspaper reporter for the Asbury Park Press in Asbury Park, N.J., where she honed her journalism skills first as an intern while in college and then as a beat reporter. Her work earned her numerous journalism and community awards.

She is an award-winning journalist in both broadcast and print, but Battle takes great pride in her service and contributions to the community in which she works. In a testament to her commitment to giving back, she was awarded the first annual NBC 4 New York Community Outreach Hero Award in February 2013 for her ongoing dedication - "toiuching viewers one event at a time."

Whether it's a career day at a local school, an adoption event for homeless pets or a fashion show to help raise funds for victims of Sandy, Battle has worked tirelessly to lend her voice or a hand to public service organizations across the tri-state area.

Her efforts have been recognized by dozens of organizations -- from the Jackie Robinson Cultural Center to the Girl Scouts of America. Among other honors, Battle has won two New York Emmy awards for her work in television news. She was recognized in 2008 by the McDonald’s Corporation as a Broadcast Legend in the fast food company's Faces of Black History Campaign.

Battle has earned recognition for her contributions to public service from the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and the National Organization of Blacks in Law Enforcement (NOBLE). She was the 2008 recipient of the Circle of Honor Spirit Award from the Greater New Jersey Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. Battle has served as honorary chairperson for the annual Memory Walk in Bergen County for nearly a decade. Since 2006, she has served as honorary chairperson for the Northern New Jersey Walk Now for Autism Speaks.

In the fall of 2010, Pat was diagnosed with breast cancer -- ductal carcinoma in situ -- and underwent surgery to remove the malignant cells from her right breast. She documented her personal journey, and in yet another public service, broadcast her story on "News 4 New York" at the close of Breast Cancer Awareness Month that October.

Her story, and an hour-long special "Talk for a Cure" that aired the following day on "Weekend Today in New York," earned two New York Emmy nominations. But even more significantly, the story drew an unprecedented response from viewers. Hundreds of women reached out to Battle, many of whom had not undergone mammograms with any regularity, if at all. Battle believes that early detection saved her life, and she has made educating others about that a mission, making public appearances at health fairs, ribbon cuttings, walk-athons and conferences and urging women to make annual mammograms a priority in their lives.

Her "compassion, wisdom and service" earned her the 2011 Survivor Award from the New York Chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which recognized her as "an inspirational role model" in the fight to end the disease that impacts one in eight women in the United States, as well as their families, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Born and raised on the Jersey Shore, Battle graduated from the University of Maryland’s School of Journalism in College Park. She is married and has three children. 


Follow her on Twitter: @PatBattle4NY