Saturday, Nov. 19, representatives of the 15th Judicial Circuit CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) will host their first ever "CASA-a-thon" from 4 to 8 p.m. on Time-Warner Cable channel 10 in Marshall to raise both awareness about the agency and funds to assist the children the organization serves so selflessly.

"This is probably our largest fundraising attempt so far," said Stacie Arends, executive director of the agency. "It's our first ever telethon and we hope it brings an awareness to the community. We also hope to raise money to support the program and get the word out about CASA and recruit more volunteers to help foster children in the child welfare system."

"We hope that this becomes an annual event and we want to encourage people to make pledges, because ultimately everything we are doing and all of the money that is received will go towards helping some deserving children."

Arends, who has been with the organization since June 2003, also explained CASA's history.

"Becky Hill, our administrative assistant, was one of two women, along with Suzanne Strathman, who started CASA here," she said. "We train carefully selected volunteers and we provide them with 32 hours of training to represent the best interests of the child in the courtroom. It's extremely rewarding and our volunteers do this out of the kindness of their hearts. What you get back, though, is a huge reward."

"Since the first volunteer was sworn in July of 2002, we have assisted 47 children," Hill said. "We have had eight adoptions and 18 (children) that were returned to safer homes after certain problems were addressed. 21 are still in foster care but they have a consistent adult presence."

"The CASA volunteer remains the same from the beginning of a case to the end. A CASA volunteer is not a state worker and having a law degree doesn't make you a better child advocate," Hill said emphatically. "Our volunteers are ordinary people doing extraordinary things for children. We don't try to be caseworkers or lawyers. We're here only for the interest of the child."

"Volunteers must be at least 21 and have to pass a criminal background check," Arends said. "Then we start training them in several different areas. Then they are sworn in by a judge."

Contact Eric Coley at

marshallfaith@socket.net