Executive Officers
Pat Montalbano: President
A 41.5 year career Math Teacher in Hammond, Pat was also the Middle School and High School Athletic Director and Football, Basketball and Track Coach in the Middle school and Baseball coach in High School. Pat was a volunteer coach for Gary in football and his assistant in Baseball.
Fred Behrens: Co-founder and Fund Raising Chairman
After a career in police work concluding with the Police Chief in Hammond and the defensive coordinator of the Hammond Clark football team, Fred is now a supervisor with Rieth-Riley in Hammond. Besides being the Co-founder of CAASH CHARITY, he also founded “COPS ADOPT” in Hammond and has assisted with many other charitable organizations.
Gary Ridgley: Co-founder and Treasurer
A 40 year career teacher including 32 years in Hammond and 7 in Henderson, Nevada, Gary taught math and coached 4 varsity sports while at Clark. Inducted into the Hammond Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 he has authored 7 books. Although assisting in several charitable organizations this is his first as a Co-founder.
Jen Klapak: Secretary
A Teacher at St. John The Babtist, is also the Volleyball Coach at Whiting High School
Don Bachmann: Social Chairman
Retired from teaching since 2005 and has been traveling the US and Abroad since. A 30+ year Math teacher with the last 29 at Clark where he also coached boys and girls Tennis. He will bring his outgoing personality to the job with the charity.
Jan Dirindin: Vice President-events
As an Athletic Director at one of the local schools, Jan brings a vast array of knowledge for the job of finding Sponsors and helping Fred with the fund raisers for the Charity. She now works for the Hammond Marina.
Senior Advisors
Dale Ridgley- A career minister who has now taken on a position as an English teacher in Arkansas. The trainer and special teams coach at Clark and East Chicago in Indiana, Dale also coached Girls Basketball and Softball at Clark.
Randy Ridgley- A career IT guy, he now works for Amazon as a Solutions Architect and is our IT GUY
Dan Kazmierski- A Federal Government employee by day, however most of his adult life has been doing volunteer work in some capacity. His bio has several volunteer positions including working with FEMA on the “Sandy” and “Harvey disasters and a decade with Major League Baseball.
Manual Amezcua- The CEO and Managing Partner of MASS MUTUAL GREAT LAKES.
Abe Rivera: After several years a Trustee, Abe made a move to Missouri for work and felt he needed to move into the Senior Advisor role for a while.
Ryan Ridgley, Chris Ader, Steve Ridgley, Milan Kruszynski, Greg Erminger, Jerry Bales, Bill Barany, Eric Grigson
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Original Executive Board Members:
Jim Blair, Fred Behrens, Steve Ridgley Gary Ridgley, Milan Kruszynski and Pat Montalbano,