Ky. Ag Commissioner Jonathan Shell Named ‘Partner of the Year’ by Kentucky CASA Network
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner and CASA of Lexington Board Member Jonathan Shell speaks at the 2025 KCN Conference.
CASA of Lexington board member and Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell was honored as the Statewide Partner of the Year by the Kentucky CASA Network.
KCN CEO Andrea Bruns announced Shell’s award at the KCN’s statewide conference, held in Covington on Nov. 17 and 18.
“When you have a statewide elected constitutional officer use his platform for your mission across the entire state – this is an easy choice for us to recognize,” Bruns said. “… the commissioner has used his statewide platform for CASA, connecting the CASA mission to rural development and supporting foster care youth.”
CASA programs across Kentucky match trained volunteers with abused and neglected children who have open family court cases. Each CASA volunteer visits their matched child regularly and alerts the court if the child’s needs aren’t being met. CASA volunteers can help ensure children get services so they can thrive and return to loving homes where they belong faster.
Shell has previously served as a state representative and majority leader in the state House of Representatives. He became a board member for CASA of Lexington in 2022, when the local program expanded to serve Garrard County, where his family farm is located. Shell said he was “sold immediately” on CASA when he heard how it prioritizes the needs of abused and neglected children.
“We’re advocating for the child. It doesn’t matter what’s best for the foster parent, the birth parent. It doesn’t matter what’s best for the court system, the social worker,” he said. “It’s what’s best for the child.”
After Shell was elected Commissioner of Agriculture in 2023, Bruns said he began raising awareness and funds for CASA programs across Kentucky.
“Most recently, he has used his platform to raise funds for CASA statewide at his annual Farm to Fork Dinner at the state fair, and this year at the ham breakfast,” Bruns said while presenting the Statewide Partner of the Year award. “What makes this award so applicable to him is the recognition that CASA is all intertwined. And while he has his governance duties to CASA of Lexington, he understands that a rising tide lifts all boards and all children in Kentucky deserve advocacy.”
Shell used his acceptance speech to encourage men in particular to “show up” for children by becoming CASA volunteers.
“Everybody wants to wake up and make a difference,” he said. “But there is one place, on thing, one position that you can be in that guarantees you can make a difference in a child’s life. And that’s being a CASA volunteer.”
Shell also thanked CASA volunteers across the state for the work they put in to change children’s lives.
“You may think it goes unnoticed. You may think you’re unsung heroes,” he said. “But there are those of us out there that sing your story every single day and try to get you the resources and things that you all need. As long as I am in a position to do so, whether it’s bush-hogging on my farm or being the Commissioner of Agriculture, I’m going to work on your all’s behalf.”
In addition to Shell’s award, a volunteer with CASA of Lexington, Cynthia Phillips won the KCN’s “Determined Driver” award for traveling more than 11,000 miles across the state to visit her CASA children. The conference’s Monday-night keynote speaker was Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine.
To apply to be a CASA volunteer or learn more about CASA of Lexington, visit www.casaoflexington.org. To learn more about CASA programs statewide, visit www.kentuckycasanetwork.org.
