Seven charitable organizations that help women in need have received a total of $1.21 million in grants from the newly created Justice Benjamin K. Miller Charitable Fund.
Justice Benjamin K. Miller was the first Springfield native on the Illinois Supreme Court, serving from 1984-2001, and was chief justice from 1991-1993. Miller was highly respected in the Illinois judicial and legal communities and known for his ethics and efforts to improve the court system. He died in 2024 at the age of 87.
The Justice Ben Miller Declaration of Trust recently gifted $3.2 million to the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln to establish a fund that will assist women and children in need.
“Ben really believed that women needed more support in society, and he saw that on the bench,” John Stremsterfer, CFLL president and CEO told Illinois Times.
Miller helped vulnerable women and children throughout his legal career, including providing legal advice to domestic abuse victims in the Springfield area. As chief justice he convened the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council to fundamentally reform how the court system reacts to domestic abuse cases.
Former Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara said she was close friends with Miller for more than six decades. They became personal friends through a mutual connection and later were political friends as well. Hasara served in the Illinois General Assembly and was mayor of Springfield from 1995-2003. She and Miller were often on the same ballot, running for different offices, and shared advice and support, according to Hasara.
“He was very smart, had a lot of motivation to be successful and was very, very ethical,” said Hasara.
In a speech that Miller gave in July 1985 at a seminar for new judges, he noted the responsibility that comes with the position.
“…putting on a robe and picking up a gavel doesn’t make you any smarter, but it does give you a lot more authority. The challenge then is to use that authority, use judgment as you exercise that authority which affects the life and the property and liberty of people throughout this state and reflects on Illinois throughout the nation.
“You have a responsibility not only in the courtroom but in your private lives to maintain that decorum… that respect that people expect of judges. So, it’s both in court and out of court that you will be judged as a judge and other judges will be judged by your conduct.”
Hasara was with Miller when he died. Miller, who never married, asked Hasara years ago to be executor of his estate. Later he asked Jennifer Johnson to be co-executor and Carol Pope and Janice DiGirolamo to serve as additional trustees – all women he admired.
It was Hasara’s responsibility, along with the other trustees, to determine grant recommendations to fulfill Miller’s charitable intent. Hasara observed that through his personal experiences, Miller saw many single women with children who were struggling.
Hasara was ideally suited for this role, having been the original inspiration for the formation of the Women for Women Giving Circle at the CFLL in 2006. For the past 20 years, she has witnessed the giving circle invest in local organizations that address pressing needs facing women and their families. And, Hasara had previously introduced Miller to the Community Foundation.
The four trustees identified potential organizations and conducted interviews to determine the organizations’ specific needs. Ultimately, the trustees recommended $1.21 million in grants which were awarded by the CFLL to the following seven charitable organizations:
• Wooden It Be Lovely – $250,000: to purchase, repair or update and furnish a residence to house women in the Wooden It Be Lovely program. Separate from the grants awarded through the Community Foundation, the Justice Ben Miller Declaration of Trust made an additional $300,000 gift directly to Wooden It Be Lovely to support the purchase of the former Temple Israel building for the organization’s operations.
• MERCY Communities – $250,000: to provide residential accommodations for women and children in the community.
• Petersburg United Methodist Church – $50,000: to support the church’s ministry to provide housing and supportive services to women and children in the MERCY Communities program.
• Pregnancy Care Center of Springfield – $50,000: to purchase infant car seats, bedding, laundry products and tokens, food, diapers, clothing for pregnant women and their infants and transportation tokens.
• Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery – $250,000: to support the Crisis Nursery’s goal of expanding the capacity of emergency childcare and its ability to offer services such as family support groups, parenting classes and crisis counseling.
• Sojourn Shelter and Services – $50,000: to support the Court Advocacy Program.
• Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault – $310,000: to be divided among the 31 ICASA centers statewide for incidental monetary support for victims’ access to services and assistance such as court advocacy, counseling, medical care, childcare and transportation, and housing and educational programs.
No additional grants are planned at this time. Conversations between the trustees and CFLL are ongoing to determine any future expenditures from the fund.
“Justice Miller served Illinois with distinction, and these grants reflect the compassion and sense of responsibility that shaped his charitable wishes,” said Stremsterfer in a written statement. “We are honored to help carry forward his legacy and grateful to the trustees for their thoughtful stewardship of this remarkable gift.”
This article appears in September 17-23, 2026.
