WEST CONSHOHOCKEN — Cradles to Crayons-Philadelphia announced this week today that Bob Aglira, who has served as a volunteer and advisor to the regional nonprofit since shortly after its inception, and board member over the past year, has been elected chairman of the board. He succeeds Jennifer Case, who established the local affiliate of the Boston-based organization in 2007 and has been its board chair since then.
“Jennifer Case played such a key role in launching Cradles to Cradles to Crayons six years ago,” said Lynn Margherio, the organization’s founder and CEO. “She has adopted — and adapted for the Greater Philadelphia community — the Cradles to Crayons’ model, and can be very proud of the hearty and healthy sibling she has raised.”
Cradles to Crayons, founded in Boston in 2002, provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive — at home, at school and at play— and supplies the items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need.
Aglira’s appointment as chairman of the local board and as a member of the national board in Boston was confirmed at the national board’s quarterly meeting.
“The local organization has gained recognition since its establishment, not only for its role in addressing the poverty faced by children in the Greater Philadelphia region, but also as the area’s go-to volunteer organization,” said Margherio.
Cradles to Crayons-Philadelphia has distributed more than 1 million essential children’s items to 100,000-plus disadvantaged and underserved children in the past five years, and provides invaluable civic opportunities for 1,300-plus volunteers each month.
“We feel fortunate to have initially attracted Bob to our organization,” said Michal Smith, executive director, “and are confident that his understanding of and belief in our mission will enable Cradles to Crayons-Philadelphia to tackle the daunting challenge of poverty among children and its long-term impact on their lives and the social and economic health of the community.
Aglira is a clinical faculty member with the Fox Management Consulting program at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, joining that team following his retirement from Mercer, where he had been a worldwide partner for the global human resources consulting firm. He practiced in the human resource consulting business for more than three decades.
“I find the opportunity to serve Cradles to Crayons in this capacity both exciting and fulfilling,” Aglira said. “The families of the 400,000 young children today in the Greater Philadelphia region who live in poverty – across our urban, suburban and rural communities — look to us, working through the area’s families, businesses, religious, education and social service organizations, and others, to aggressively and creatively provide them with needed assistance. I see this as a unique opportunity for Cradles to Crayons to make an even deeper and wider imprint here.”
A graduate of University of Maryland (M.S. applied mathematics) and Temple University (B.A. mathematics), Aglira is married, has three children, and resides in Malvern.