Sans titre

Alberta B. Blecke, a University of Florida graduate, has worked for the rights of Florida’s at-risk children for the past two decades. In this work, she follows in the footsteps of her mother, Lucy Batchelor, who first introduced volunteers to Miami-Dade Juvenile Court. Berta Blecke has been an incredibly committed community volunteer whose determined effort to aid neglected, at-risk and abused children, especially girls and young women, has changed our school and judicial fabric for the better. She started as a Junior League of Miami volunteer observing the juvenile courts. This resulted in the 1980 founding of Guardian Ad Liteum, which now has 400 “guardians” who represent a large number of young girls. From this she realized that a lot of children, especially adolescents, had no stable, long-term care. Beginning in 1984 this sparked the development of the CHARLEE program, which has served more than 4,000 children in foster care. Blecke helped extend the Gladstone Center for Girls in 1991, where girls ages two to eighteen receive therapy, schooling and medical care. In 1999 she established a board representing all of the justice, treatment and children’s advocacy groups in the county to create Kristi House, Inc., to coordinate all programs in one place—the first time in the history of our community. A recipient of numerous awards, Alberta B. Blecke has made a great impact as a dedicated volunteer working on behalf of the children of our community.