the Painting Activist

Earlier this week, I volunteered to at a fundraising event for one of my favorite nonprofits, Court Appointed Special Advocates. At the exquisite home of a CASA board member, $100 raffle tickets were sold to enter the drawing for 2 new Mercedes-Benz C300 Sedans. Tickets were going as fast as the green chile wontons and glasses of Pinot Noir. This year, 2,500 tickets will be sold (and keep in mind, last year’s raffle sold out). To further entice you, the second place winner will receive free gas for a year (a Thornton’s gift card valued at $2000), and third place wins two round-trip American Airline tickets within the continental US. Too good to resist? Here’s the link to CASA of Jefferson county’s website where, at the bottom of the page, you can buy your raffle ticket online.

I know from volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, this organization truly makes a visible and substantial difference in the lives of children who have unduly suffered the pain of abuse and neglect, and now must brave a very intimidating court process, often placing them in a foreign home. Reunification of a child and their family is always our goal, but unfortunately, there are many parents and care-givers in this world to whom I wouldn’t trust my dying plant.

When I was about to take my first case a few years back, I read through the files of children awaiting a CASA volunteer to be their voice in and outside the courtroom. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry first or throw up. I quickly realized that I live in a bubble that shields me from perversion and atrocities happening in my own community.

I’ve learned that two things are of great value to nonprofit organizations that are worth mentioning here if you, like myself, don’t have $100 to throw down for a raffle ticket. Unless privately funded, nonprofits always need:

1. your money, but if you don’t have that to give, they also need,
2. your time.

If you are looking for an organization to volunteer with, please consider contacting a CASA office near you. You can literally change the trajectory of a child’s life and possibly be the only hope that boy or girl has.