Welcome to the grazing podcast for Robertson Sheatham
Farmers Coop. My name is Clint, and I
will be your host as we record live
from our beautiful
Springfield, Tennessee location inside our podcast studio.
Robertson Cheatham is a member on Farm Supply
Cooperative. You can learn more about us on
our website, your farmers coopdot com, in addition
to our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Welcome back to the grazing podcast for Robertson
Sheatham Farmers Coop. Today, we are gonna be
talking with miss Leah Blocker.
She is the executive director for CASA of
Robertson County. And for those of you that
don't know, CASA stands for Court Appointed
Special Advocates
for Children. Leah, did I get that correct?
You did.
I was thinking Casa, but you corrected me.
It's Casa. I was saying in my head,
hold on Casa Casa Casa Casa. So listen,
I appreciate you taking the time
to come up here today and educate us
on what Casa is, the purpose of it,
how it was created, how you got into
this line of work because it from what
little I know about it, it's
a a wonderful,
I don't know what you call it. Is
it nonprofit? It is. We are nonprofit. Okay.
That that serves the community in a a
really,
truly amazing way. So I'm excited to hear
more about that.
Now
when we talked on the phone last week,
your office
Mhmm. The old skating rink, is that what
you told no kid. Yeah. How long how
long have you been there in the old
skating rink? I didn't know what they were
using it for. Well, I'm telling you, you
need to come visit me one day because
what he has done to it is phenomenal.
You know, he he kept the nostalgia.
The floor is still there,
up in front where he has his business.
David Devers still owns it. And his mom
and dad were Sam and Lejeune who owned
it originally.
And so he kept the nostalgia of the
the skate
cubby holes,
miss Lejeune's counter where she served all of
her famous birthday cakes.
The railing is still up where you go
and kick the railing at the end. But
in the back, it's then also very retro.
So we have it's kind of a
Coca Cola retro kind of theme. And so
it's it's offices, but Gateway STEM has about
half of the building.
And, if you haven't had the opportunity to
talk to them, that should be your next
podcast because they are amazing. Gateway. Gateway STEM.
It's, Robert Dillard does it, but they do
a lot. Like, this week, they're having Astro
camp. Next week is a drone camp.
And they do a lot of STEM activities
and that kind of stuff. So they have
half of the building. The other part of
the building is offices. So there is an
attorney that has an office out there and,
we have 2 offices out there and then
there's an accountant out there. So it's just
divided off into offices and it's it's really
cool. But when you walk in, you can
still feel the the old nostalgia. Absolutely.
And that's how we know when people are
from here or not. Because when we say
our office is at the old skating rink,
if they ask where is that, you're not
from here.
Is is part of the old hardwood still
there? It's still there. No kidding. The biggest
question everybody asks is is the hump there?
The hump is not
there. That's the first thing I thought
of. The hump was, that was a big
deal Yeah. Way back when. And I'm I
thought to myself, surely they they left the
hump. Maybe. He tried. But it's in the
offices where one of gateway offices, and apparently,
it just the flooring got so bad underneath
it that they did have to remove it,
repair that. But most of the hardwood floor
is the original floor.
Oh, that's neat. The the a lot of
it's still there.
What what caused that home? Does anybody know
or was it just Well, so in the
back now,
David does, he coaches some
baseball stuff. And so some he has, the
fake greenery down, and he has a place
back there where he can do some practice
with his baseball team.
And when he laid that flooring, humps started
appearing. And so it has to do with
the moisture
because the building is so old and trapping
the moisture and it buckles the the floor
is my understanding of how that home got
created.
So It's one of those things that it
worked out well having Yeah. We loved it.
When I was a kid, that was going
over the hump. That was a big deal.
It was like a rite of passage. That's
right. I didn't know if it was there
since the beginning of time or how it
was formed, but I was
You can even still see some of the
outline of, like, the hokey pokey circle in
the middle of the floor. You can still
see some of that out there. I didn't
know. You know, I knew that it was
being renovated, but I didn't know what for.
Hadn't heard anything.
But it sounds like it's you know, the
the purpose of it now also has a
a really, really, really good purpose for, you
know, for y'all and
other businesses. But it's it's neat. The hardwood
is still still there. And it sounds like
they kept a lot of the other stuff,
you know, the railing and whatnot. Of course,
it was his mom and dad, so it
was very sentimental to him too. So That
I had no idea that it was still
in the family of the original owners. I
figured it got sold to some, you know.
Nope. David Devere is the owner. That's that's
encouraging to hear, you know, keeping it keeping
it in the family. That's great. Well, so
your office at the old skating rink, just
just our neighbor right down the road here.
So for people, and I'm I'm included in
this,
CASA.
Going back to when I it's it's, stands
for court appointed special advocates for children.
What is the purpose of CASA? And, you
know, I I'm sure it's a it's a
national type of thing, but but let's focus
on, you know, Robertson County. Now what's the
purpose of CASA here in Robertson County? So
let me go back 20 years. Actually, even
25 years. Carol Sledo,
who, she was a teacher at Springfield High
School. She was very instrumental in the community
all around.
She got to talking to a group of
people about bringing Casa to Robertson County. At
the time, Judge Glover was in the office.
We cannot exist without the support of the
juvenile court judge.
We have to have their cooperation and their
backing, and they have to sign a memorandum
of understanding with us for us to be
able to exist.
So
she got everything off the ground. She got
us established as a 501c3.
And then in 2004,
they trained their first advocates and had their
first cases.
Which means this is our 20th year celebration.
In in that time, we have been supported.
Max Fagan was the judge that actually signed
us, signed our first memorandum of understanding and
Melanie Stark has been with us as the
magistrate for years now.
So we work through juvenile court with those
kids who have been deemed abused and neglected.
I just went to Small Town Startup on
Tuesday and talked to her junior CEO camp.
And
I told them, I said, most people think
abused means
I was hit, I was kicked, I was
that kind of thing. But abuse for our
children can be, my parents did drugs in
front of me, my parents exposed me to
needles that are laying on the coffee table.
It can be that, at midnight,
2 children underage were left in a car
for 3 hours at Kroger parking lot.
One of the kids piped up and said,
what does somebody need to do it? For
Kroger at 3 o'clock in the morning for
3 hours. What are you doing?
I said, well, we didn't ask those questions,
but it was inappropriate to have your children
in the car.
So abuse can and neglect can mean a
lot of different things. Any sort of potential
traumatic event a child has been exposed to.
A lot of our kids are exposed to
domestic violence.
And just being, just witnessing the domestic violence
is enough to be abuse and neglect. Oh,
I'm sure. Yeah. So when when Madrissa Stark
gets a case and she feels like it
could use maybe an extra set of eyes
and ears on that case, then that's when
we're appointed. We would love to serve every
child and we're getting very close to being
able to. Last year, we served
73% of the children that came through.
And we do that by having more advocates.
Currently, we have 38 advocates. And our advocates
go in,
they get to know the children, they know
the placement, they know the biological parents, sometimes
it's the doctors
and the teachers and anybody that's involved in
that kid's life.
What makes us special,
because also on our team is DCS
and parents attorneys and the children each have
an attorney.
But what makes us special is our advocates
are signed one case.
All of the attorneys have multiple cases
and their private caseload
and other things that they're doing. So it
allows them to focus Yes. On that one
particular case and they're not spread too thin.
Yes.
And, you know, we'll go DCS.
They do a wonderful job, but the nature
of the job is there's quite a bit
of turnover.
At no fault of really anybody except that
it's just the nature of the job. It's
a hard job to do. So we've been
on cases that have lasted for 2 years
and the one consistent adult in that child's
life has been their casa worker because doctors
have changed, teachers have changed, DCS workers have
changed, parents and foster parents sometimes have changed.
But we try to keep one consistent adult
with CASA. Okay. So, you know, in in
my brain,
from what I hear, this is an organization
that, you know, if a child has been
through a traumatic event, whether
it could be physical, it could be neglect,
it could be sexual, it could be anything
like that, some sort of major traumatic event
during the duration of the court case,
they are appointed
an advocate, just like it says, someone to
represent them, but, also, I I would imagine,
just be
a familiar face, someone that they get familiar
with over time and they get comfortable with
and they
build a relationship
and trust comes from that. Yes.
For the, you know, the representation of the
child,
which
you know, is wonderful for the child,
it's
for the child itself, but also for
the the court proceedings. Mhmm. I would imagine
just being able to get more information out
of the child and get to know the
child's, you know, the habits and the personality,
and it just it's it's,
a vital part to make sure the case
goes as it should.
And also for the,
like I said, the child there, they have
somebody there comforting Yes. To them because I
can't imagine
the traumatic event, whatever it is that takes
place, but then you're you're in this,
you know, court setting, the sterile court setting
where it's just everything is quiet. It's weird.
You'd been been from the perspective of the
child. It's just a very strange experience I'm
sure to have to go through. And when
you can look over and there's a familiar
face there with you, you trust that that
means quite a bit. I'm quite sure. We
had a case just the other day, and,
it was it was closing that day, and
and the children were actually gonna go stay
permanently with another family member.
But they had to see their father for
the first time in a long time, and
they're very afraid of him.
And my advocate stood up in front in
court, holding the hand of the little girl
while she cried because she was afraid to
be in the same room with him. So
to be able to have the other family
member that was there, but to have somebody
else that you were familiar with and you
were comfortable enough with to be able to
get through that situation. It was it's very
moving to see that. Oh, oh, my goodness.
Oh, my goodness. I can't imagine.
You're talking about some very,
very difficult things that some of these kids
have have Yes. Gone through. And
this has been around since 2004 in Robertson
County. Mhmm. So but before it but it
has to be signed off on
by a local
judge, you said. Yes. Criminal court. It it
gets
it gets disheartening sometimes for me because we'll
get a call and they'll say, hey, we
have this situation. Can y'all help us? The
only way we can get involved in the
case or in a child's life is through
juvenile court. They have to appoint us.
It's not something that, you know, you get
one of a case and you you call
them and say, okay, we're here if you
need us. You there there's some
moving parts that have to be worked out
correctly. And that doesn't mean we can't send
them other resources and we can't suggest different
things. We just can't come become involved of
it as an advocate
unless we're appointed through the courts.
And ultimately,
it's to say of the judge Yes. Presiding
over it, I imagine. Yes. And that's just,
would it just be a judgment call based
on that they look at the case and
say, okay, this could be very beneficial to
the child. Yeah. Magistrate Stark and she is
the only judge that we are in front
of is, Madras Stork. And
she typically looks at a case to say,
because we've had fewer advocates, she's had to
be selective and say, you know, I think
this case is gonna close in a month
or 2. Let's save an advocate and not
put them on this case. Let's go to
this case where maybe it's gonna last a
little longer. Now that we're getting more advocates,
she's able to our our goal is to
serve a 100% of the kids that come
through. So and we're getting
we're getting close to that. We're being able
to serve most of the kids that come
through their her courtroom.
The the beginning origins of of Casa, of
course, it's been in Robeson County since 2004,
you said, but when was
the inception of it to begin with? Do
we know that? I don't. In fact, I'm
supposed to look up those stats for our
upcoming celebration that we're having, but, it's been
around for a long time. Okay. And and
it's not I mean, it's in Alaska. It's,
you know, it's
I have been in trainings. It's funny to
be in a training with somebody who's in
Alaska and Hawaii and California and Tennessee. And
you're like, well and we all we all
operate a little different, but we're all over
the guidelines of the National Casa and and
what they tell us we can do, we
can't do. And originally, it was Judge Glover
that
signed off on this to make it available
for for Robertson County.
Because I've I've
I've heard of it, you know, before, but
I didn't realize, you know, the the degree
that it was this national
nonprofit organization.
So, you know, ultimately, it's this it's a
wonderful tool
dedicated to the children. Yes. I when I
meet with a parent, I tell them,
I'm here for your child. I'm not here
for you. If you're what's best for your
child,
I'm your biggest cheerleader.
But when you prove to me that you're
not what's best for your child, then we
have to I have to do what's best
for your child. Sure. Most parents
who are willing to do the work appreciate
that honesty and appreciate that outlook.
You know, and
we we see
we see reunification
a lot.
Unfortunately, we are seeing more termination of parental
rights where the parents are just completely,
lose all rights to their children and the
children are up for adoption. We have had
3 of those recently. We're waiting on 2
more to come through the courts now.
And those
are heartbreaking
and exhilarating and exciting at the same time.
Because no matter
what the outcome is, if a child gets
a permanent safe placement, that is our goal.
Our first goal is always reunification.
We we want these parents to turn things
around and succeed, and we do everything in
our power to help them and support them
in doing that.
But if that's not going to happen, and
the child
is not going to be returned, and that's
not gonna be their best placement, we have
to find a safe place for these children
to thrive. I mean, there's there's studies out
there that shows every time a child is
moved from one home to another, and it
could be in the family or out of
the family,
How how much it hurts them and what
trauma that causes. And it help it slows
down their development development, especially for babies and
toddlers.
And so, you know, I have I have
one young boy.
He was around 8 or 9 years old.
And in 3 years, he was in 25
placement. Oh my god. 25. 25 place. Now,
some of those were like weekend placements.
But because of the trauma he had been
through, his behavior was such that a lot
of homes couldn't
couldn't adapt and couldn't adjust with him in
there. The happy ending to his story is
he's adopted with 10 siblings.
And and, you know, it's funny.
As a team, some sometimes we think we
know what's best. And so we kept telling
him, when he's adopted, he has to be
an only child. It has to happen this
way. He needs all the focus of a
person.
And he got put in this short term
placement with these 10 kids at one point
in time, and it ended up being the
best thing that ever happened to him. And
so they ended up adopting him. So, you
know, sometimes we don't know what's best. Praise
praise God. That's that's awesome. I'm sure you
I I know you were
firsthand witness to wonderful stories like that.
And put at the same time, the the
heaviness
of all this and and
trying to navigate it. You know? 8 years
old in 25 different Mhmm. Environments.
And I don't think we know to the
degree,
you know, the the the developmental stage of
children and going through that, what that I
mean, it's
if the long term effects that has on
them and in ways that they probably won't
even understand even when they're
older. But the fact that you can have,
you know, eventually, the the peace that comes
with,
you know, they're in a safe environment where,
you know, lord willing, they're gonna thrive in.
I I can imagine
there's not much more gratify gratification than you
get Yeah. From knowing that, especially going if
the case what does a typical case last?
You're looking at at least
a year?
When I started, I've been with Casa about
five and a half years now. And when
I started, our average case was 9 months
to a year.
It has extended quite a bit. And and
across our state, those cases have extended. And
a lot of it has to do with,
the more knowledge we have about drug use
and the effects that it has on your
brain.
And,
a lot of the brain damage doesn't get
to be repaired until 15 months after you've
been sober. And so we really you try
not to send a child home
prematurely
before you know that the parent is sure
they're sober. Are they gonna stay sober? Is
it gonna last? Sure they found a home.
Are they gonna stay in a home? And
so we're finding out more that it's it's
not just about getting there, it's staying there.
And so with the case, a lot of
times will go a little longer to make
sure that the parents are gonna be able
to stay there.
I had a case with 5 boys. All
5 boys were born in different states.
4 of them had never lived in a
home. They just gone from hotel to hotel
until they came into custody. And they they
lived in a wonderful home.
The foster parents were very supportive, very supportive
of the parents.
The parents had some drug issues, had some
domestic violence issues,
and
I got to watch I will the baby
came home actually from jail
and, to the foster parent, and he was
returned to his parents. I think it was
the day before his second birthday, and all
5 boys went back. Now
some people look at it, the foster home
they were in, they had, it was large,
it was big family support, there was a
beautiful home, all these kind of things. And
the parents ended up getting up back on
their feet
in a small, very small 2 bedroom apartment,
and,
working jobs and being able to to take
care of their children. And so some people
have a hard time
which one which atmosphere is better.
Is this nice home better or is this
small 2 bedroom apartment with parents better? And
our answer is, if you can have your
connection with your parents, that's always what's best
for your children.
This family is thriving.
And the great thing about Casa is our
case closed with them. They've been home with
the parents, they've been reunified, they're doing great.
And mom reached out to me the other
day, and dad is in the hospital. He's
been in the hospital for 2 weeks. She
just needed a little support,
and we were able to get some supports
to her. And I always tell them, you
don't believe me, but if you'll call us,
we'll help you. And sure enough, she did.
And and so I went picked her up.
I took her to Walmart. We got her
some groceries.
And she at the the end, she hugged
me and she said, thank you. I said,
see, I told you. All you have to
do is ask. And because they don't have
family support here.
And, it was it was an amazing thing
to watch her, you know.
It was hard to ask for help. It's
hard for any of us to ask for
help. Yeah. And but she knew for her
kid's sake, she had to. And so that
was something something very different for her, and
and that was an amazing story too to
be able to continue. So that was one
of the questions I wanted to ask you.
You know, you you go through the court
process, and once that gets resolved
and, say, a positive way like that where
there is reunification,
does it just cease there, or is there
still availability,
you know, through CASA to to continue to
help these families if they need that support,
and it sounds like, yes, that is the
case. They just need to reach out, which
is easier said than done a lot of
times.
But that that help is there if they
need or want it, it sounds like. Yeah.
I worked for the state of Tennessee for
9 for 19 years.
And, I worked with individuals with disabilities
and and, you know, our rule was you
don't share personal emails, you don't share personal
Facebook pages, you don't do anything. Even after
they leave here, you can't because they may
come back.
And it it was hard to do a
lot of follow-up. Here,
my advocates are volunteers.
I don't I don't put those parameters on
them. We actually have,
a man who was an advocate for 2
little boys.
He came on to the cases that they
had, been exposed to drugs. They had a
lot of dental work that had to be
done. There was a lot of trauma behaviors
that had to be dealt with. They went
to a wonderful foster home, and they were
in that foster home for, I think, close
to 3 years before they were finally adopted
by that foster home.
The foster parents' family,
most of them live in Florida.
The advocates' family, they live up north. So
they really have become they go on family
vacations together.
They go to the sounds games together. They
do as they've kind of become like the
adopted grandparents
to these 2 little boys, which has been
really cool to see. And not not every
relationship turns out that way.
You know, especially if they're reunified with the
parents, some of them are like, look, we
want everybody out of our life. You're this
has been, you know, and they just want
to do their own thing. But, yes, there
is that opportunity because they're at they're volunteers.
My advocates are volunteers that there is the
opportunity to contain maintain relationships
and always if they'll call back. But even
the courts, when we close their cases, the
courts will say,
don't let this get that bad again. Call
us if you need help.
So that we can be able to we'd
rather the kids and the family get support
and help than come back into the system.
Oh, which which I
in my opinion for what it's worth, I
think that's how it should be, you know,
if
when you're talking about a a state government
situation, you know, you get through the court
process, then contact's over, we're done. Right. It's
not done. It's not done by a long
shot. I mean, these people,
not all of them, but a lot of
these people
still even if they don't need the the
help,
they need to know that they have support
behind them. If there's a there's a potential
safety net there, if need be, just reach
out to us and let us know instead
of the mentality like, well, you we got
you through your own your own now. You
know what I mean?
Sometimes we have to be careful because we
put so many expectations on these parents, unrealistic
expectations. I I mean, I have a 4
year old, and sometimes I'll look and say,
if that was me with my 4 year
old and they were asking me to go
to 5 classes every week and, you know,
do these different things. Could I maintain that?
And
we had a we had a family. They
had we had 3 children in foster care.
And we ended up giving them back to
the family for a trial home visit
within a matter of about 4 hours.
They had no clue that we were this
was happening. It was a it was a
very bad situation and this was gonna be
the least drastic alternative and
I said, y'all, if we don't get behind
them and help, they can't succeed. You can't
say you're getting 3 children back in your
home in 4 hours.
Go go do it.
And so, I got the community,
we got them beds, we got them car
seats, we got them hygiene stuff, we got
some extra food until they could figure out
their finances to be able whatever food stamps
gonna look like now. What is this gonna
look like? How do we make this stretch?
Because otherwise, we were setting them up for
complete failure, and that does not do anybody
good, especially the kids. The kids going back
into the system and it's like, well, here
you go. You're left to your own vices,
that that's not gonna turn out well. Right.
Just increasing
the chances of success and doing little things
like that.
Like getting in beds. I mean, it's so
simple, but it's so profound at the same
time. Or if a child is put back
in a situation, another bed to sleep in,
I mean, it's just it it's not looking
good at that point. So, I mean, that
that's so wonderful to hear about from from
that side of it. Now you said you
worked at the state for 16 years, 19
years.
So, overall, you know, how did you get
into this line of work? Did you always
know from a young age that you wanted
to to pursue this kind of thing? Or
how how did this all come about for
you? It was I would say it was
accidental, but it wasn't. It was a god
thing.
I worked for 19 years. Most of 17
of that was with adults with disabilities at
a residential facility in Smyrna. I drove from
Springfield to Smyrna every day for 17 years.
And then the last couple years, I worked
with,
at risk youth at a it was kinda
like a military school. And so I was
ready to change something, change
my environment and quit driving.
And I wanted something in Springfield. So I
heard that the Casa position was open at
that time, it was the advocate coordinator position.
And so I interviewed and I came. I
didn't know a lot about nonprofit world. I
didn't know a lot about this, and I
have learned and it was a god thing.
This I love it. I love where we
are. I love what we're doing.
We have grown exponentially in the past five
and a half years,
and,
it's it's a great thing.
So, you know, commute, cut down on the
commute Mhmm. For sure. And, you know, the
fact are you from Rock, Michigan? I was.
I moved here when I was 10 weeks
old. I can't say I was born and
raised, but I was born and raised in
Springfield. Okay. My daddy was the band director
at Springfield High School for 30 years. And
no kidding. Yeah. Alright. So, I mean, you
were
10 weeks old. Sure. But, yeah, you're you're
born you're born and raised. Yeah. You know?
So the fact you could serve your community
in that way, I'm sure that meant a
lot to It does.
So what what year would that have been
when you came home with with Casa? 2019.
2019.
And was it was it all way you
interviewed for the what not the executive director,
but the
Advocate coordinator. We have 2 paid positions,
coordinator and the executive director.
Okay. So when did you go from the
advocate coordinator to the role you're in now?
About 3 years ago. Okay.
Kristen King was the advocate coordinator. I mean,
I was at the executive director at the
time. And when she left, to pursue other
ways, then I moved up into the executive
director position.
And I've been there for a little over
3 years, I think. So, you know, day
to day for you, I'm sure it's you
you gotta wear a lot of different hats.
I'm quite sure. We do.
But, you know, the it's nonprofit organization.
Your
success
is dependent on volunteers
Mhmm. For this. And how
which which are the advocates
for the program.
How many how many advocates do you currently
have? We have 38 right now. We start
about five and a half years ago when
I started. We had 8 to 10 that
were active,
and we have 38 now. So that's
phenomenal
to grow that much.
We offer our our advocates
range from I have one that, is an
assistant district attorney.
I have one a couple who have retired.
One's retired from working for Shell for
40 years.
I have, people who are still working full
time.
I have, people who are working part time,
retired,
all different you don't have to have any
credentials
before you come in. All you have to
be is a willing person.
I have individuals who are managers at Sonic.
I have people who are hairdressers. I have
all different kinds from all different walks of
life. I have 3 advocates who grew up
in the foster care system.
I have some that didn't have any clue
what they were signing up for, but they
wanted to do something in the community and
they got involved and they're doing a phenomenal
job. So All walks of life. Absolutely. And
that's what makes us unique.
Because
not everybody can connect to every kid.
And so when we get a case, I
look at the case and say, now which
advocate do I think will connect the best?
You know, there's some parents that need a
little bit of a a harder,
I won't
harder talking to you sometimes, and some advocates
are able to do that easier than others.
And there's some that just need a gentle,
loving arm to help push them along, and
some advocates are better at that. So when
whenever you receive a case, you
study it, go over it, look at I'm
sure you you may meet with the parents
or the child perhaps. I'm not I'm not
sure how that works, but you analyze it
and say, okay, out of my 38,
I think this person would be a great
candidate Absolutely. For this case.
And I even go over it with them.
I had a case the other day that
is a it's a it's a difficult case,
in a lot of ways. And so I
called an advocate and said, hey hey, what
are you thinking? And they said, I can't
do it. I I can't do that one.
Give me the next one. And that's
okay. You know what? It's some of them
are harder than others. And, you know, if
you have
we can all sit here and say we
don't have biases, but we do. Sure. And
so, you know, there's some cases that are
easier than others and some some life experiences
that make it there are trigger points, and
we need to know what our trigger points
are and that we can't handle that. Absolutely.
And I can if we have 38 right
now,
and I I think you said you try
to have them on one case at a
time if possible, but is that not always
the case? Is sometimes Sometimes, like, I have
a couple that are retired and have extra
time, so they'll be on they'll take maybe
2 cases. Mhmm. But 2 is usually my
max for anybody.
I mean, at that point, you're just you're
spread too mentally. You're spread too thin. You're
trying to take care of all this and
maintain this,
this role that you're in. If you 4
or 5 different cases, you just you can't
do it. Right. It's not feasible possible. So
the percentage of cases that, Casa was able
to take on in Robertson County
last year, it shipped 7 73%.
73%.
It took 80 we had we had 81
children that we served last year.
81 kids
that made up 73%
of these cases. Okay. So the 30 some
odd percent that couldn't be, you know,
represented. What's what's the limiting factor there for
you?
Availability of people.
The more advocates that we have, the more
cases we can serve.
You know, like I said, there are a
couple cases that come through that she knows
in 2 or 3 months, this case is
probably gonna be resolved. It's, you know, it's
just
there's a difference in sometimes intentional abuse and
neglect, and sometimes there truly is some accidental
abuse and neglect. You know, you just got
into
you made a wrong decision, you looked to
the wrong way at the wrong time, something
can happen and and it's gonna be fairly
easily resolved. So we don't necessarily assign an
advocate because by the time they've
got started, it would be time to close
the case and so we try to save
the advocates for the longer cases. Not tap
your resources when you look at, a potential
case that you can clearly see, hey.
Someone just made a a a bad who
hadn't made a bad decision that could result
in something like that. It's
very,
easy to
differentiate between that and
intentional
intentional abuse based on the evidence. Right.
So Judge
Stark Mhmm.
So she looks at this and does she
contact you directly and say, hey. What do
you, you know, what do you think about
this? Do you From the bench, she orders
us. She'll she when when the case comes
before her for the first time, typically,
she will say, I'm appointing this person as
father's attorney, this person as mom's attorney, I
will appoint this person as the child's guardian
ad litem, and I'm appointing Casa to the
case. And we get the court the bench
order and then we get going from there.
Now there have been times, even just recently,
we had a case that had already been
in the system for a little while,
but it was really taking up a lot
of DCS's time. It was really getting fairly
complicated. And so DCS went to the judge
and said, hey, can you appoint us a
Casa on here so we can have some
extra hands on this case?
We've had attorneys that have gone and said,
hey, you know, we're really having a hard
time with seeing eye to eye on some
things. We feel like we need another mutual
party party in here. Can can you assign
Casa? And,
so that we've had been appointed that way
as well. Okay. But the magistrate has to
sign off on that. And it's it's all
dependent on availability
of the advocates and the number of advocates
that you have. So
if someone is interested in becoming an advocate,
what are the requirements? I'm so glad you
asked.
We usually do 2 classes a year.
That is the most time consuming part of
being an advocate. They have to have 30
hours of training.
Which is why I say you don't have
to have any knowledge of anything coming in.
We train everybody
from
how to talk to children, developmental stages of
children,
what minimal living is, because you don't have
to have a fancy house and a car
and electricity to be a good home and
good parents.
And so we take the advocates and go
through a 30 hour training.
Once we finish that,
most of their scheduling is on their own,
and we usually ask that they do about
10 hours a month on a case. So
to get started, all you have do is
reach out to us and say, I wanna
become an advocate. They do a background check.
There's a short application process. We have to
have a couple, res
not
resumes, references. Reference. There you go.
References just to say, yes, they're an outstanding
person. I think they'll do a good job
on this.
And then we get started in class. You
know,
we are selective in that we want to
make sure they're going to be a good
job for our our kids.
But at the same time, we also recognize
that
everybody can connect with somebody and contribute something.
So if people are willing to come to
our classes,
we're willing to to give it a try.
I I will be honest, I had one
interview where in the interview process, I was
like,
this lady is never gonna make it. But
let's let her go through training and let's
just see. And she's turned out to be
one of my best advocates. No kidding. Yeah.
You know, I think I think she was
nervous when we met with her and and
we we call it an interview, but it's
really a get to know you. Let's just
kind of what have you been through? What
have you saying? Do you know anything about
what you're signing up for?
What kind of cases do you think you
can handle and you can't handle? That kind
of thing. So it's not really
a job interview per se.
And she ended up being one of the
best ones. And I'm sure it's it's there's
times like that where maybe people can't connect
with
other adults that well, but they can connect
with children better Right. Perhaps. You know, have
a gift in that way. Mhmm.
So, you know, tangibly,
for one of these advocates,
I'm sure every, you know, court case is
different, but what does it look like for
the obviously, they have to be at the
court hearings.
Are they spending, you know, 1 on one
time with the child trying to get to
know them? Do they, you know, take them
out to eat? They take them to ice
cream? Like, what is that
that the process of getting to know them
and where they have to dedicate
their time to other than the actual court
hearings
themselves, what does that look like?
So
through National Casa, we are not allowed to
transport the children and we're not allowed to,
supervise the child.
We can interact with the child and be
alone with the child, like, if we go
to the foster home and let's go outside
and play ball. A lot of what I
encourage my advocates to do, in fact,
I have gifted all of them a I
call it a toolkit.
We're not really supposed to buy the children
a lot of things.
So in that toolkit, they have connect 4
and Jenga and crayons and coloring books and
stickers and fidgets and all this kind of
stuff so that they can take that toolkit
and kind of as an icebreaker with the
kids. Get involved with doing things and then
take that toolkit back home with them so
that the next time, hey, let's look and
see what else we have here.
In fact, last year, Pleasant View, Baptist Church
did a their bible school
did a fundraiser for us for for their
bible school fundraiser. And that's what we did
was we we bought games to go in
these tool kits for all of our advocates
to be able to take in and out
of the homes.
I have one advocate right now.
She is working with her
young girl
and
she'd never been to the library.
So they have a standing date every other
Sunday. They go to the library
with her placement, and they get get learn
how to check out books, and they've read,
and she has just excelled this summer academically,
where, you know, a lot of kids are
sitting at home not doing much, and and
she is,
English is her second language. And so it's
been very beneficial for her to be able
to have these dates at the library and
and get to get out and do some
things like that. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So
is it kind of at the discretion of
the the advocate Mhmm. Himself? So, I mean,
if they wanna meet with if, like I
said, they go to the, you know, Isaiah
117 house,
can they meet with them every day, every
other day, twice a week is They're required
to meet once a month, face to face.
Many of them get involved more. And it
kind of depends on the age of the
child. You know, if it's a baby,
you're not gonna develop a lot of that
relationship. So a lot of that is getting
more to know the parents
and the other
parties involved. And and still seeing the child
and knowing the child and that kind of
thing, but you're not gonna develop a huge
relationship with that baby seeing them once a
month or whatever.
And it's it's up to the advocates, up
to their availability, it's up to the placements
availability.
And sometimes the children
want to be involved more. Hey, can you
come to my game? Can you come watch
me at gymnastics? Can you come do those
kind of things? And we have advocates who
very much are willing to go and do
those kind of things.
And then you have the 13, 14, 15
year olds who are like, why are you
here? Let's get this over with. You know?
That's right. Yeah. They're a little more difficult
sometimes, but you would be surprised.
We have a a teenager right now who
just will sit down and sit on the
front porch and just glad to have somebody
to talk to.
I always tell my advocates,
no matter what your degree is in or
what your profession is,
here, you're just a volunteer.
So my assistant district attorney
is just a volunteer when she's with us.
She is not anything else. She is not
an attorney. She is not anything except a
volunteer willing to come and and help in
this family. Throw everything out the window. You
are this is what you are. Yep. You're
volunteer. Whatever pride you got in your profession,
go to what you're just a volunteer.
You know, it's it's really it's it's just
fascinating to hear about, and
it's one of those things that, you know,
for for me, for example,
you know, I'm
it's not part of my every my everyday
day to day life.
You know, I've got a I've got a
family of my own. I've got to work,
and
you you get caught up in your own
little existence for what it is, and you
for you fail to realize
everything else going on out here and less
fortunate people and what they're going through. And
there's times, you know, me and my wife
will be driving down the road or whatever,
and you look you know, you pass houses
all the time. And you look at a
house and you say,
who knows what's going on inside of there?
Right. You know what I mean? You just
you you don't know because we live in
a depraved world. That's just the the reality
of it. And once I became a parent,
I've become
more of an empath when it comes to
to children.
And, you know,
we take our kids to the park or
whatever, and we happen to see another child
there, and you can just
based on common sense and being able to,
you know, evaluate maybe the, you know, the
appearance of the child, the way the child's
socially interacting,
that they may or may not come from
a a rougher environment
or who knows what they're being exposed to.
And here in Robeson County, you know, it's
I mean, it's
no different. It's a very prevalent thing that
I think the general population is just not
aware of. It's just easy to
bury your head head in the sand and
you become,
just focused on your own existence.
But
what y'all deal with in Robertson County specifically
and what you see? I mean, what
what are some of the common things? Is
it more of
and you I'm sure you can only talk
about this so much, but, like, if you
imagine, like, a a pie chart of these
levels of abuse that these kids are going
through, is it more
physical? Is it sexual? Is it neglect? Is
it just is it a a Drugs.
It's more drugs than anything.
Yeah.
Most
most all of our cases have drugs or
alcohol involved in some way.
Now,
what we know is a lot of that
also means there's an underlying something that led
to the drug use.
Unfortunately, a lot of our cases are
generational.
Grandparents were in the system or had trouble,
parents,
kids,
and and that's a hard thing to see,
Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to I call
we call it a generational curse. Sometimes the
only way to break that is to remove
that child from that that line.
It's really hard
to treat individuals or get we don't treat
them, get them to treatment and help them
get better
when it is generational because that's what they
know. And I my advocates make fun of
me in my training because I tell them
all the time, you don't know what you
don't know.
And if you don't know how to break
that curse, if you don't know how to
put down that
pipe or the bottle or the needle or
whatever and that's all you've ever seen, if
all you ever know is to yell at
people and then they do what you want
them to do,
that that's what you know.
I think that's what every county is different,
and I am proud of Robertson County and
the things that we do for our family.
Because
we try to make sure that when the
kids go back home or wherever they're going,
that we have worked on their trauma, that
we've worked you know, we've had parents that
we've come through and we've said, hey,
you have trauma in your background. Have you
ever dealt with that?
Let's get you into trauma therapy because that's
gonna make you a better parent. You have
to deal with your stuff first.
And we have
limited resources when it comes sometimes to trauma
therapies and that kind of thing in Robertson
County, and we have organizations really trying to
work on that. But we have great resources
and people that we can point to and
say, hey, can you get us here? Can
you help us get there?
We have a lot of,
our court is very in tune with a
lot of the drug rehab facilities, and, you
know, somebody will come and say, well, I've
called 3 places. Did you call this place?
Because I know they have openings. We talked
to them last week.
And really trying to to help
the underlying calls. But we do have overall,
a a consistent,
theme is is drug use.
And when you look at the root of
the issue, like you said, if it's generational,
if they grew up in an environment where
that's all they know, they've never seen
a healthy family unit where you have a
present mother and father being intentional and loving
each other
and, you know, then in turn loving the
kid. They've never seen that before. I mean,
they come from a bad situation they were
born into.
And,
you know, you're not just gonna solve that
by giving them a talking to. You know,
it's not that's not the way that it
works. And not by just taking their kid.
Right. That's how they view it as you
took my kid. Sure. Sure. That's not the
situation.
I mean, it it you're talking about some
major, major therapy that people have to and
people can do it if if they want
if they make a decision, they want to.
If they want
to go to a drug and alcohol facility,
you know,
If they make that decision for themselves,
then people can absolutely do it. Mhmm.
But, obviously, the reality of the situation is
it doesn't always work out that way. So,
you know, the reunification
percentage wise, do you know, like, you know,
last year with those cases, how many were,
you know, turned out to be
a a a case where they were
reunified with their their mother and father or
one of the other?
Funny you asked because I just had to
do one of my reports yesterday. And I
think in the past 6 months, I think
I remember that we had closed for 19
children.
And out of that 19, I think there
were
7 or 8 that went back for reunification.
There were 4 or 5 that went and
stayed with families.
And we had, like, 3 adoptions. I'm not
sure if that adds up to 19, but
that's kind of kind of how that breakdown
was. And and you can't look at if
they're
you can't look at it as if, okay.
Well, they weren't reunified with their family, so
it was a failure. You know? Right. Adoption
could be the the,
the best thing that ever happened to that
child. Absolutely. We're going to live with with
another family member.
But at the same time, if the
mother and father, if that if it works
out that way, I'm sure that is a
beautiful thing to witness if everybody's doing their
due diligence to make that situation better.
But To be able to stand up in
front of the court and the parents get
to hear
this case is closed. You have you've been
reunified with their children. I mean, it's it's
hard not to cry with them because they're
usually so elated. Oh my gosh. And you've
been with them for so long and watch
them. Right.
You know, I've we've watched parents come up
who obviously were under the influence of drugs
and see them 2 years later, healthy and
sober and back with their children. It's it's
an amazing thing to watch. Oh my goodness.
You see some of the most beautiful things
in in that way, and you see some
some horrific
things too, I imagine. So
how do you specifically you know, you've got
a child of your own. You got a
life away from this. How do you take
care of yourself mentally
by being exposed to these things? It it
takes a toll It does. On anybody. What
what do you do to to keep your
mental sanity and health during this? Do you
try to take a vacation once a year?
What what do you like to do?
My child is a lot of of my
sanity. You know, I just I really try
to focus on doing things with her and
and getting out. But at the same time,
we tell all the advocates we're sounding boards
for each other. Once you've been through the
training, you've signed your confidentiality.
We don't go around sharing names, but we're
able to call each other and say, look,
I gotta tell you.
You know It's a big community for each
other. Yes. This this is this has happened.
This is very frustrating. We need to talk
about this. And a lot of times that
really helps. We have advocate meetings for them
once a month.
And this summer, the advocate coordinator has scheduled,
you know, let's do some self care things.
We went to Willow Oaks and did a
painting party and,
did some things like that just to be
able to in impact in August,
Stephanie
Evans is coming to talk about.
We talk about their mental health issues. How
do you help your own mental health and
what do you do? So,
and for our advocates, they do have one
cases, but the advocate coordinator and I are
dealing with all of the cases.
And so it's you know, we're able to
sound off of each other, but I do.
I take vacations.
Just the other day, my advocate coordinator text
me and said, hey. Taking the afternoon off
and taking my granddaughter to the movie. Okay.
Fine. Have fun.
When I was in
college,
I would do my internship.
I was going through some some family issues
and
that person
taught me more
about self care than anybody. She called me
one morning and said, hey, I know yesterday
was hard for you. Before you come to
your internship today, I want you to go
get breakfast, go to the park, and take
a walk, be here by 10.
She said you gotta take care of yourself
first. And as a supervisor
all those years, I've really tried my best
to make sure people know
you and your family come first, job comes
second. It's important. You gotta be here. Don't
don't abuse it.
But if you call and tell me that
you need some mental health time today, then
take it. Do it. I think it's really
important. Oh, god. You how you have to
have it. I can imagine, you know, somebody
that's,
leans more along like a workaholic. Like, they
just immerse themselves in this line of work
if they're a volunteer, and then they become
very passionate for the cases.
And you're not
you're not
thinking about yourself
and what you need, how this can really
take a toll on you you because you're
I mean, you're you're hearing and seeing some
things that should not happen. Right. And it
when it involves children, I mean, I'm sorry.
It's just that much harder, especially, you know,
when you
when I became a parent, like I said,
I just it it Makes you different. Oh,
it changes your perspective. I mean, I could
have heard about terrible things about kids
before I came to parent. I'm like, I
thought it's terrible. Yeah. And then I'd well,
okay. Well, then I go on the next
thing. But now it's just
when you when you have kids, it changes
your
lens of how you view everything, or at
least it should.
And, I mean, you you think about your
kids and you're thinking, well, I'm of course,
no no parents perfect, obviously.
But it's like, you know, why they were
born into lower willing, a a good, healthy
nuclear family unit,
but then you look at these other kids
over here, and they were born into this
awful situation. And they had no choice in
the the matter. You know what I mean?
It just,
just
drew really, really bad hand. Right. And,
I don't know. It's just it's some heavy,
heavy stuff to take in, I'm sure. But
38 volunteers,
you know, that's the limiting factor in in
success of this.
Is there
a promising trend that you can see of
you're getting more interest from more people that
wanna come on as advocates?
We are, and we only serve Robertson County.
Now,
that doesn't mean the children are in Robertson
County.
I I know when you talked to Missy
last year, she shared with you about different
foster homes that we have. And I don't
know the number of foster homes,
but I do know that several of our
children, because we don't have enough foster homes
in Robertson County, are placed outside the county.
Mhmm. But at the same time, Montgomery County
doesn't have a CASA program at this time.
So a lot of times, we have right
now, I think, 5 advocates from Montgomery County
who just wanna serve,
so they come to the next closest county
and they come with us. So we we're
we're swearing in about 8 to 10 advocates
every year.
Now, you know, we have some that,
we have one advocate right now who started
her own nonprofit, and she's so busy. She
she doesn't have time for a case right
now, and that's okay.
An advocate doesn't sign up for life. We
ask them to sign up for the life
of their case, but if you can only
serve one case, then you've served one case
and you've done a great job for that
one case. So,
we are seeing a trend of about 8
to 10 every year.
I started saying earlier, we we usually do
a spring class and a fall class. So
our next class is coming up in September,
and we hope to at least have 5
in that class that will that will start
and graduate and be sworn in by Christmas.
And and
word-of-mouth,
social media. Mhmm. You know, people.
I have I I didn't wear my Casa
shirt today, but I tell people all the
time we have a little logo, our little
man logo.
When my daughter was 2, she knew if
I put that shirt on, she would say,
mommy, you're going to a meeting. You have
your meeting shirt on. And so people don't
really think social media or branding or any
of that kind of stuff is effective, but
it's so effective. Oh, absolutely. And being able
to get out and about. So the word
of Casa and what we do has really
grown over the past few years, which has
helped to get the number of advocates in
that we have. Sure. Sure. In any little
way, you can get the word out there.
And especially like a logo, when you see
something, you associate it with, with, oh, yeah.
I've seen them before. I know what that
is. That makes perfect sense. I'm I'm I'm
just curious. You said Montgomery County doesn't have
this program. And you may not know the
answer to this, but why
the Montgomery County is Clarksville. That's a large
county. Yeah. Why would they not have something
like that in place, you reckon? Well, because
they did years ago, and something
happened very inappropriate,
and
they had to close the CASA program. And
the judges that have been there have said,
no, no, no, no. And
we hope with new judges coming in and
with the positive work that Casa is doing
in other counties, we're hoping that the talks
are in place to start 1 in Montgomery
County in the next couple years.
But it's just, you know, things happen sometimes
and
Well, and the success, it depends on
obviously, you have to have volunteers.
You have to have a committed individual such
as yourself in this role, and you have
to have the judges backing you. And you
gotta have the community's money.
That and thank you for bringing that up
because Casa,
how do they keep the doors open? Because
the money everything's gotta have money. Where's the
money come from? We we have some grants.
We have a federal grant. We have a
state grant. But a lot of ours comes
from donations.
You know, people
are are very kind to do ACHs and
just it just rolls out of their checking
account once a month. They never even think
about it.
And our biggest fundraiser is coming up in
October, October 26th. We do a big 5
k, boobash dash.
It's been going we looked the other day
and I think we figured out
it started around 2,011,
2012, something like that.
So it's been going for years. That was
a couple years they had to skip it
for whatever reason.
But,
I'm I have worked the past 3 years
to try to make it more, not just
a 5 k, but more of an event.
Last year, we had,
inflatables
and we had a kids area to do
kids games and chalk and we had some
vendors down there. And,
this year, Historic Perks is bringing their little,
trailer down there. The Historic Perks will have
a a counter there to do things. But
it is a 5 k and a 1
mile fun run. The thing that's
unique for us
is it's a Halloween
focused event. So you wear your Halloween costume
and run the 5 k. So therefore, it's
the boobash dash.
And it's fun. It's a watch. I mean,
people come in those humongous inflatable dinosaur costumes
and run and those little bitty legs that
go through there and they make it their
whole 5 k and they're coming back just
to huffing and puffing. But it's it's a
fun event that you can bring the whole
family to. Because if you don't wanna do
the 5 k, okay, well, go walk them
out and then turn around and come back.
Right.
But we start at the fairgrounds and go
towards Travis Price on the Greenway.
So it's it's a great running area.
Everybody really we had over 200 runners last
year,
and we were really excited about that. So
that that is our biggest fundraiser. And we,
you know, I in my CEO camp this
week, you know, I talked to him about
we have to have businesses who are willing
to be sponsors of that event. And we
put their names on their t shirts and
put their names on their signs and that
kind of stuff to give back.
But but that fundraiser
and donations
and grants,
that's where we get our money. And without
the community being able to to help us
with those,
we couldn't exist. It's it's several moving parts
there that all have to kinda come together
to make this work. Absolutely. We'll have one
without the other, then
the success is compromised,
which is
disheartening to think about, I'm sure, because these,
you know,
these things don't stop happening. Right. I mean,
we live in a fallen world and and
and there's bad situations these children are are
in and,
you know, I just if you can put
yourself in their shoes depending on what it
is,
you know, like you said, some of these
kids, they want you to come to their
gymnastics
or their ball game just to have
support from somebody there, you know, because they're
they're looking for they wanna be loved. That's
all it is. They do. And we all
do. We're all we're all human. We all
wanna be loved, and they some of them
are probably
the concept is foreign to them, but they
they know innately that that's what they want.
Yeah. And, you know, being able to bless
those kids like that, it it means a
lot. But to have this thing up and
running, you gotta have all these levels of
support. So, obviously, volunteers.
Mhmm. You have 2 the next one is
in September, the next training? Yes.
Okay.
And when is the
earlier in the year, what month do you
have the first one? We typically start in
February. Okay.
So the volunteers, they go through a 3
hour 30 hour training. 30 hour training. Okay.
But we break it up. It's usually, like,
Tuesday nights, 3 hours every Tuesday night, and
we just kinda break it up like that
and get done when we get done. Mhmm.
So if, you know, if we have 5
people in the class and 3 can't be
there that next week, okay, we'll skip a
week. We'll come back the next week kind
of thing. So we try to try to
work.
And COVID has taught me, we do our
training in person. Some cost up programs don't.
They do it all virtual.
I think you gain a better
camaraderie
in the group by doing it in person.
However,
if you're sick, don't come share that. We'll
zoom you in. I don't want you to
miss, but we'll zoom you in. You can
lay on the couch and listen to what
we're talking about. Whatever we need to do
to get that training in. There's flexibility there.
Absolutely.
So 30 hours, that's the most time consuming
part of it, it sounds like. And then
after that, you're you're good. You're just kind
of,
on call for when these cases come. You're
you reach out, present it to them, say,
hey, would you, you know I think you'd
be a good candidate for this. What do
you think?
Yep. And we even tell the advocates, if
something happens and you can't come to court,
let us have your court report and we
will represent CASA in in court itself. They
they they send in a court report for
us, and of course, we work with them
to get that done. But we often ask
matters to start, what do you need to
see in those reports? And her answer is,
I've got the background. I know what the
case looks like. I know what mom and
dad did. I need to know when you
went and witnessed that visit between mom and
child, what did that look like?
What did how did the child act when
you went to visit? Are they are they
set settled in the home that they're in?
Do they seem afraid? What what's going on
with it? And so,
that's really what we focus on is telling
the team, hey, we went out on this
visit and this is what we saw.
We we got involved with this and this
is what we learned. And going back and
give that kind of feedback. I'm just looking
at the situation and if you
if you have a gift of being able
to read, you know, body language, emotional language
from the child, I mean, that'll tell you
a lot about the situation they're in.
So, oh, it's wonderful kingdom work that y'all
are doing. I mean, it really is.
And there's, you know, you talk about this
and then the foster care system, and it's
just there's such a massive need
for this kind of thing. So, you know,
of the volunteers, obviously, donations
Yes. Very big in the community. Yes.
And what else? Is there any other thing
that that is really We have a board.
We're we're often looking for board members to
be able to come. And and because some
people say, I I can't at this point,
I don't feel like I can serve as
an advocate. What else can I do?
Another opportunity as a board member, just to
be able to sit and have some oversight
of, yes, the policies are good. Yes, your
funding is going where it's supposed to go.
Yes, let's help make this decision kind of
thing.
And then
just word-of-mouth. If nobody can do anything else,
sharing what we do and sharing our mission.
Go into our Facebook page. And when we
have the boobash dash or something coming up,
being able to forward that and share that
and say, hey, I heard about this organization.
Let me tell you about it because the
next person may be able to give or
the next person may be able to serve.
Sure.
And that's that's what I tell people. Everybody
can do something.
You know, if you can't give money and
you can't give your time, that's okay. But
you can still
help us by praying for us or spreading
the word or something. You know, we're super
excited because in September, September 17th, we're having
our 20th celebration.
And, I had a a church group reach
out the other day and they wanted to
to give a donation in memory of someone
who passed away. And I was like, look.
Can can you sponsor my awards for that
event? Because we're gonna give awards. We have,
people who have been involved from the very
beginning. We have judges that we wanna thank.
We have advocates that we wanna do some
things for and they're like, sure. That'd be
a great way for us to be able
to give.
And and our our breakfast is gonna be
free. We're doing a a 20th year breakfast
and it's gonna be,
if you have been involved with CASA, if
you've been an advocate, if you have been
a parent that was served by CASA, if
you've been a judge, if you've been a
board member, or if anything that you have
been involved with CASA in the past,
to be able to just come and eat
breakfast and us be able to say thank
you.
And we're we're super excited about being able
to do that.
And,
so that that's a big thing for us.
Oh, I I I can imagine. And just
like you said, you know, everybody's able to
do something. Mhmm. You know, if you're not
if you can't be an advocate at a
certain time in your life, you know, any
little donation,
you know, praying.
I mean, we really underestimate the power of
prayer, and that's
we need that more than probably anything else
in these situations, you know, because I just
again, I go back to what you were
saying
even after the court case is settled, these
these kids,
a lot of them have a long
hard road hole
after that. And it's gonna take,
I
it it takes a lot of commitment
even from them to make the choice, you
know, even if they can recognize like, hey,
something's not right. Something doesn't feel right internally
with me. I need to get some help
because, you know, pride, we can all be
private in time, but we don't wanna we
don't wanna fool with with doing the hard
work of resolving some of that internal struggle
with what we've experienced.
And, you know, prayer prayer is a massive
thing in that. So everybody has a has
a part they can play in this. They
do. And,
you know, it's just it's something that there
needs to be. And hopefully, this helps, you
know,
the awareness of the things going on in
the county because we're insulate. A lot of
us are just insulated. We don't deal with
this on a day to day basis like
y'all do.
And, you just you you become so immersed
in your own life, and you need to
to get back to, you know, the things
that are happening within your community
and have an awareness of it. And, you
know, Lord willing,
we can all play a part in that
together. But, and, Aaliyah, I just I appreciate
your
time coming up here today to talk about
this. I mean, it's just a wonderful thing
that you're doing and your team is doing,
and and lord willing, this will just get
some of that awareness out there, that word-of-mouth
that, that you talked about. But,
Well, I thank you for having us. If
anybody wants to reach out, we are on
Facebook. We're on Instagram, Casa of Robertson County,
Casa of RobCo on Instagram.
Our website is Casa of Rob Co.
So you can find us or just come
knock on we're not always the the the
good thing about a non profit job and
the bad thing about a non profit job
is you're not an 8 to 5:30 or
8 to 4:30 or whatever office sitter.
But then your phone calls
don't end till 8 o'clock at night sometimes,
or they start at 7 o'clock in the
morning sometimes. Right. But so we're not always
at the office, but you could always stick
us a note on the office door if
need be. But,
there's always a way to get get to
us,
somebody,
the chamber, anybody can get you my number
and it goes straight to my personal cell
phone to be able to call and say,
how can I get involved or how can
I give? Plenty availability there. Absolutely.
Well, Leah, this has been wonderful. Is there
anything else we hadn't gone over, upcoming events,
or anything you can think of before we
wrap it up that you wanna discuss? I
don't I don't think I just encourage people
to get involved, you know, next weekend, chosen
is having their back to school bash.
We're sponsoring a table and we've been asked
to supply all of the glue bottles
that the kids will get. Last year, they
served over 800 children
that came through to pack a backpack to
go back to school,
and that's an amazing thing. You know, it
doesn't take much
just to be able to to help with
that. So if it if it's not us,
find somebody
in your community to get involved with. I
had at the Boobash Dash, I had several
I off I always invite as many nonprofits
out as they want.
And somebody laughed at me one time and
said, well, what are you trying to do?
Give money away? And I said, you know
what? Cost is not for everybody,
but there is something out there for everybody.
So find a way to plug in and
get involved in your nonprofits and in your
community. Sure. And I mean well, I mean,
I think, you know, obviously, you,
Misty with Isaiah 117,
the open door pregnancy center. Sean over there,
I've interviewed her on this. We did her
ribbon cutting for her mobile unit this morning.
No kidding. She got a mobile unit. She
does
that gum. Well, that was last year. I
think I was last year we talked about.
I mean,
there's so much out there what you're talking
about Yeah. Where people can get involved and,
you know, serve others Mhmm. In that way.
And,
you know, we need to stop becoming so
focused on ourselves and and and think about
others because there's a massive need,
that sort of thing out there is volunteer
work and just
kingdom work in that way. That's right.
Everything you're doing, god bless you. It's it's
wonderful to hear about what's what Casa is.
You've educated me and shined a light on
it in a major way. So thank you
so much for that.
And,
if you're good, we'll go ahead and wrap
it up for you. Well, thank you so
much for having me. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
Alright. Y'all appreciate you listening to this episode.
Be sure to tune in next week for
another one. Bye
bye. Thanks for listening to the grazing podcast.
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a visit at Robertson Cheatham Farmers Co
op.