December 2, 2024 • 30 mins
"All are invited to Dauphin County Court Appointed Special Advocate's “Giving Tree” fundraiser on December 3rd at 5:30 on Linglestown Square. Proceeds benefit volunteer court advocacy for the over 400 abused children in our local foster care system." www.DauphinCountyCASA.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Sylvia Moss. This is Insight, a presentation of iHeartMedia,
where we really do care about our local communities and
all our listeners who live here. Americans are obsessed with heroes,
not the muscle bound guide with the cape that swoops
down and saves the day, no matter how handsome he is.
I'm referring to the people in our local communities who
(00:22):
pay attention seen injustice, and even when they come upon
obstacles and naysayers, they persevere to change things and make
a difference in our lives when others usually give up.
As one of those hero obsessed Americans, I can tell
you that those who never give up on doing the
right thing, especially when it comes to helping abuse and
(00:42):
neglected kids, are my true heroes. I am very honored
and excited to introduce you to the folks who have
changed the stories of so many foster care children. Here
right here in Dauphin County. With us are the Honorable
Lorie Sarah Telly, past president and founder of the Dauphin
County CASA, the executive director of Dolphin County CASA, will
(01:04):
foster and volunteer advocate for Doulphin County Cassa Jamie Wessel, guys,
to begin with this program, I think I want to
quote somebody. Actually it's it's Will Savor quote. I don't
know how I came across that, but what this pretty
much is talking about Lourie. According to Will, doctor seuss
(01:27):
One said, unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing's going to get better. It's not Lourie. Gosh. I
just said to her, you've already created a legacy, and
then you do go and do this. Tell us what
Dolphin County CASA is, who it serves, and because of
all the work you did for many years, you're responsible
(01:50):
for bringing it right here to this county.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Thank you, Sylvia. I won't take full credit. It does
take a village to bring the COSTA program to a county.
KASA Dauphin COUNTICASA is one of twenty one local programs
in Pennsylvania nationwide. It was a movement that started back
in the seventies when a judge and family court did
not really have enough information about the children who came
(02:16):
in front of him to make the right disposition. Dauphin
COUNTICASA trains community volunteers who are then assigned by a
judge to one child or sibling group, which is very
different than what a caseworker is dealing with. For example,
with dozens and dozens and dozens of cases, the court
(02:40):
does assign a guardian at letam to the child who's
an attorney to argue for their best interest. But they
have a caseload of about ninety on the average. So
it's such a different program in that the KASA volunteer
can make a direct connection with the child, be the
eyes and ears for the court. They write tremendous reports
(03:02):
every time a case is reviewed by a judge that
gives the judge as judged. Cherry has been quoted saying
it is his bible. He knows exactly what's happening in
that child's life in order to make the right disposition
whether they go back to their parents or stay in
foster care and hopefully be adopted someday.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
That's amazing. Talk about heroes. There you go again, and
I would say the main thing is empathy that you
folks have. You understand, you feel what, you want to
do something about it. You are the executive director for
a couple of years now, will talk about how these
kids come to the foster care system.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So a lot of our kids come to.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
The care of Children and Youth Services through abuse or neglect.
And you know, it takes a lot of eyes to
see what's going on in a child's life. So what
typically will happen is the kids will go to school
and teachers will notice something and they'll report it because
as mandated reporters. Anyone working with children in Pennsylvania as
(04:08):
a mandated reporter, so they have to report it. And
then thus starts the journey of children in youth trying
to figure out if this child is actually safe or not,
and if they're not, then that's when they come into
the foster cares.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
This one you're talking about, give me some examples of
what you've seen neglected or abused.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
So we've had, I mean, our volunteers get to see
the worst of the worst. So I mean, we've got
some children who are from other countries brought here illegally,
and we have other kids who just are in home
life situations that the parents just aren't necessarily don't have
(04:50):
the tools to be able to effectively parent, whether that's
through poverty or mental health concerns.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I mean, another big thing is the opioid crisis, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Oh yeah, a lot of our families are dealing with
substance use issues as well, and so I mean we
get to see the results of that with our kids.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Laurie, Before you created this situation, Droffen Couny, what happened
to those.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Kids before there was a cost program? Yeah, Children in
Youth is mandated to take the child and put them
in foster care. When I first started the idea of
the program, there were about six hundred children in foster care.
They got lost in the system. The caseworkers were overwhelmed.
(05:38):
There was one notorious case in twenty fourteen where even
though the caseworker went to the house, they never put
their eyes on the child who was up in an
attic starving to death. I mean, it was terrible. There
was quite a shake up in Children and Youth, and
I think that was when the court finally realized it's
time to have a cost of program.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I remember, not too long, weren't their children found in
Harrisburg that were starved? Yeah, that's you know, I can't
help it. I'm a mom, a grandmother, you know, and kids,
no matter how many issues I address on this program,
I got to be honest, kids, I can't help it.
And when I especially at times like this, and I
(06:20):
hear a lot of my friends' kids are spoiled, they
didn't get this. And then I think about those kids
who have no direction, sometimes have nothing to eat. They're
being physically and sexually emotionally abused. I think, oh, dear God,
this is real. This is and four hundred kids in
Dauphin County alone, wow, right in Harrisburg.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And it's it's kind of in the shadows. You don't
know who is experiencing.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
This, and it doesn't it's not necessarily like we used
to think about drug and alcohol addicted people. There's an
old guy sitting in an alley with a bottle booze
and a paper bag. It's not that way. Even it's
big shots abuse their kids, wealthy people and people who
don't have a good income. It's all around. And see,
(07:10):
I think that's what's so hard for people in this area.
Even though they're the most generous people in the world,
they sometimes they're in denial about this stuff going on,
whether it's drugging, alcohol abuse, or whether it's these terrible
things happen to kids. Have you found that to be
a case.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Still. Yes, part of it is because it's such a
confidential system. It's meant to be confidential, so people are
not identifying these children. But that keeps it, like I said,
in the shadows, so it's not known. But you're right,
it could be from Hershey, it could be inner city Harrisburg,
it could be rural. Mental health issues are big.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Mental health is a number one issue in this country. Yeah,
I mean, they can't get away from it. And that's
what I think that people are in denial about that
more than anything else, you know. So if you can't,
if you don't realize you have an issue, it's not
going to it's not going to change. So we all
know that. Well, your biggest focus has been to get
(08:12):
these costs of volunteers right now. You lot this past
year you pick up quite a few, So you're doing
something right and you're not with this organization real roll along.
It's got to be you and what you're doing. First
of all, tell us what a costa volunteer does, what
they're responsible for, and what type of training they receive.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So our volunteers come from all walks of life.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
They have to be twenty one or older and be
able to pass background checks. And so what they're responsible
for are finding out everything they can about this child
and what's going on in their life to really paint
a picture for the judge. So the judge can, as
Lourie said before, have an adequate amount of information to
make the right decisions.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
And it's one on one. It's not, like Laurie said,
like the social workers, they've got a caseload of many, many, many.
This is totally focusing on the skit. Let me ask
you this, what determines which child goes to which volunteers there?
Do you have a system for that?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
We've we've revamped how we've matched our volunteers a lot
because we've gotten a lot better partnerships with children and
youth and the caseworkers and the guardian d items.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So what we do is we meet with the.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Caseworker and get as much of a history as we
can for the child, and then based on our interactions
with the volunteer and what's going on in that child's life,
we kind of try to match people up with strengths.
Of course, some volunteers prefer working with older kids or
younger kids, so that is a little bit more of
a determining factor. So there's a lot of variable set.
(09:51):
But when we when we settle on a match, we
give the volunteer an opportunity to refute, and if they
decide that that's not a good mix for them, I mean,
it has to be a good fit on both sides
of this, then we find them someone else. Because unfortunately,
there's almost four hundred kids in foster care in care.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I can't believe that's so.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, if we can't match, if it's not a good
fit in that particular moment, we have someone to back
them up. But usually our program supervisor and I are
really good at finding the right matches.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So okay, it works. Well.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
What should a person who's listening to this program and think, hmm,
that's interesting, Maybe I should find out about this. What
type of time commitment is there? First of all, the
second part of that question is from what I understand,
if you still have a full time job, you can
still be a cost of volunteer. Right.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yes, we have quite a few people who are working
full time and doing a stellar job advocating for their kiddos,
But really the standard is ten to fifteen hours a
month approximately, in that you have to visit your kid
once a month and it can be placed anywhere in
Pennsylvania and beyond, or they have to and they have
(11:07):
to go through our forty hour pre service training.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Okay, what's that? What kind of training is it?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So we spend about forty hours going through the ins
and outs of what ACASTA does and how they do it,
and we give them an introduction, at the very least
to very hard subjects trauma, domestic violence, good substance abuse, health,
mental health challenges, things like that, and we get them
acclimated to the subject matter that they're going to be
(11:35):
dealing with. So once they get through that, they get
to observe a court hearing and really feel what it's
like to be in the courtroom. And then we get
them sworn in by a judge and it's just like
a really magical culmination of all of their hard work
over forty hours to be recognized by the judge.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Jamie, you're pretty awesome from what I here. Tell us
you're a cost of volunteer. You first heard about this
when you were living in California, right, correct, tell us
your story.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
So, there actually was a fundraiser that the California program
used to do to support CASA. They packed bag lunches
and the kids would put a picture in there, and
I'd always hang it on my Cube and I was like, Oh,
what's you know, it's more than a lunch. What is
this about? Tell me more. I had a peer who
was a CASA and I really wanted to get involved
(12:32):
to help youth. I'm really passionate about that. Unfortunately, I
had very small children at the time. I was going
through grad school. It just wasn't the time commitment. But
I kept tracking the program, looking for ways to get involved.
I moved back from California to Pennsylvania, and, as my
luck would have it, within about my first year back,
Dauphin County started a program. I was super excited. I
(12:52):
reached out and I began the process that Will was
sharing with you.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And now, Ma Cassa, tell me about this young guy.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
He's amazing. He probably doesn't want to be called a
young guy anymore. He's nineteen. I still called me a guy.
It's when I first met him. I actually remember the
day met him was at a court hearing. Is the
first time that he met me, and he was told
here's going to be her casa, and Will was there
and I just introduced myself, told him, you know, kind
(13:20):
of what my role was going to be, saw how
it would go, and he sat down right beside me,
started talking to me. And I was very fortunate that
it was an instant bond. You never know, you know,
these kids are seeing a lot, and especially older youth,
you know, they've been through a lot, They've had letdowns.
It's hard for them to trust. But short story, you know,
I ended up bonding, finding out what his goals were,
(13:43):
and we pushed him through. You know, I kept showing up,
letting him know I'm not here to judge you and
I'm not going to go away. And it was a
good balance of accountability for his decisions and me being
there to give him what he needed. And big success.
He was able to graduate high school first in his
family and I was able to be there for that.
So now he's just exploring adulthood. There are some some
(14:05):
bumps with that because again, you know, these kids have
not had the background and the support system the whole time.
And I find even as an adult sometimes I can't
navigate around so him, you know, just figuring out who
he wants to be where he's going to go, venturing
out on his own, and I'm here to support him.
Even though he's no longer a youth and he turned
to eighteen, I'm still here to advocate for him.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And you ended up supporting his sister, right correct.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
He also has a sister who was removed from the home,
so he stayed. She was removed from the home, and
I was able to form somewhat of a relationship with her.
Not quite the same again, different circumstances and different ways
of responding to your life trauma. But I have been
able to, you know, check on her. Was able to
get her removed from the initial placement that she was at,
(14:52):
which was like a drug and alcohol recovery placement, so
after she no longer needed to be there, was able
to find her other productive placements, to work with her
on what her goals are and where she wants to
go and find find her value.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
What you learn about yourself.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
I learned I'm a lot more sensitive than I realized
that I was. You know, everything makes me very emotional.
I learned my capacity for patients though, And.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, you had were you're doing this, you had three children?
What is it an old child, right, and you had
you had young ones too while you were doing this.
I mean, a mom is a full time job, it is.
So how did your kids the young ones react to this?
Speaker 5 (15:36):
They love it. They think that it's great. It's always
a good opportunity for me to share with them, to
remember what they have. Sometimes they forget. They probably get
upset because I always turn it into a lesson of
you don't know, the kids that don't have things, you
should be grateful. But they get very excited when I'm
doing something. They always ask is this for your Cassa kid? Said, yes,
(15:56):
it's for my Cassa kid. So I think it's also,
you know, the next generation teaching them, you know, to
help and to be really little softer and sometimes you
just really don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
That's right, absolutely, I've been a proponent of that for years.
We have to figure away, but we need the support
of parents who realize that too, that it's not all
about you. And I've seen a lot of children who
have said even I can remember my own son who's
in his forties now, taking him to a nursing home
(16:29):
where these folks they bring him in every every week
to an activity center at the nursing home and a
lot of them had strokes and hadn't spoken for years.
Young man sat down, started playing a bicycle, a bicycle
built for two. These people started singing, and he was just,
oh my god, Mom, can we come back here? This
(16:50):
is so cool? And when these kids also they volunteer,
they feel so good about themselves. They're going to find
out that they're you know, they're getting more than their
they're putting out there. So we got a figure. Let's
talk after this. Okay, I've been talking about this for years,
but anyway, I wanted to ask you, how what would
you say to people out there that are listening that
(17:12):
would encourage them to become cost of volunteers.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
I think when I think of this, it's always been
pretty simple for me. Sit and think about your roughest
a day, not necessarily even as a child, as an adult,
where you felt very overwhelmed or lonely or lost and
you just wished that there was somebody there to just
help you or ventu or give you some guidance. That
is really all a CASA is. I mean, there's more
(17:38):
to it, and I tend to oversimplify, but if you've
ever thought, man, I just wish there had been someone
to be there to help me or support me or listen.
You can be that for someone else, and it does
give you a lot of yourself, you know, it helps
you to find some things in yourself to get through. Imagine,
that's really what these kids need. Oftentimes they're overlooked, not
(17:58):
listened to, and they can find their spark if you're
just there to show them that they matter. Just you
are showing up. So I encourage people, if you've ever
just wanted to be a support system, reach out.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Talk to Will.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
He can tell you, you know, all about how to
get involved. I know he gave some scary hours. That
sounds like there's a lot, but it did not feel
like forty hours of training. I was like, oh, training's
done already, and saying that we do like fifteen to
twenty hours a month. It just it becomes a part
of who you are and you can do it if
you care about people, it will come naturally. And I
(18:31):
encourage you to reach out. Really does make a difference.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I want to ask Lori and Will Years, what's the
phrase I'm looking for. There's accountability. Tell us how this
program has changed kids. What an impact has it had
on kids in Gaulphin County? The kids have gone through
the system, do they do bedroom school? I mean, what's
(18:54):
their attitude when they go back home?
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I think a lot of our kids when they come
out with especially with the volunteer, they're less likely to
go back into care and part of that is the
extra eyes and ears that our volunteers bring. We also
do a lot of research for resources, like there are
resources out there that.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
We can that may not be typically used.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And we kind of bring that to the forefront and go, hey,
this would be really helpful. And I think that creates
better outcomes for not just a kiddo but the family.
So if they do end up going back to the family,
they're more likely to have solid footing.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Lord, you're a judge, I mean what impact? I mean,
what did you see as far as the impact it's
had on these kids.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, I was in family court and certainly I had
my share of cases involving abuse. I think the cost
of system and when I was a judge, I was
just getting started with the program, so it didn't come
into existence really to operate until twenty nineteen. But knowing
other cost of programs Lancaster or Cumberland County, York have
(20:01):
in existence for decades, and I've had the opportunity to
see children who graduated high school, who went on to college,
who rave about how the one person who made such
a difference in their life was their cost of volunteer.
So there is enough history in this program to know
it works and that it really does. Not to be trite,
(20:26):
but it does change a child's life.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
How can it not. Yeah, what was the hardest part
for you, Jamie, being a CASA.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Not being able to fix everything? Yeah, well, yeah, that's
probably the hardest part. Realizing you got to set a boundary.
There is some accountability, there is, you know, some you
got to put on the parents, and some of that
even in my experience was the parents probably could have
used a CASSA, but we didn't have one, you know,
twenty thirty years ago, you know, so trying to help
(20:56):
them through. But I think the biggest struggle is when
you set an ideal because you want to save the
world and you want to make it better, and some
days it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Do you meet the parents, yes, okay.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Yes, as Akasa, you're supposed to be checking in both
on the parents to make sure that they are doing
what they're supposed to, so you can report back to
the court out what's really happening at home, what you're
noticing from the parents, you know, if they're in a
place to take the children back. As well as meeting
with the children.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Do they seem appreciative of what their children have experienced
with you?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
In my experience, very much so good, very much so.
They appreciated having that extra, you know, hand there to
help them because they realize, you know, they're falling a
little bit short as well.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Laurie takes a heck of a lot of money for
your training, for your cost of volunteers. And I know
you're always having fundraisers. I've been to them this past week.
You've had the I think it's your what fifth adversary
for your giving tree? Tell us what that was, what
happened like, who was there? And it also shows that
it's not just individuals. Businesses get involved with this right absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
This concept of the giving tree originated during COVID. We
were about to have an in person fundraiser and lockdown happened,
so we quickly came up with this idea of having
a virtual holiday tree on our website. A lot of
nonprofits were doing similar things and this is really turned
(22:23):
into a massively successful fundraiser. It is for the whole
month of December, beginning on Giving Tuesday, which is December
third this year. We are going to be in the
Linglestown Square. They have a beautiful live tree where we'll
have our kickoff.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Well that's yeah, okay, you did that, okay, and then
what happened? What all goes on there.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
We will have an mc valpritcher from ABC twenty seven.
We will have a volunteer speaking. I believe, we're going
to have the Linglestown Elementary Children's Chorus singing, which will
be adorable and wonderful. Is at five point thirty we
will light the tree. Saint Thomas Roasters providing hot chocolate
for everyone. Is going to be very chilly tomorrow night,
(23:09):
but that is just the beginning. We are sending everyone
to our website at Dauphincountycosta dot org slash tree to
make a donation. We have sponsors. Midpen Bank is our
premier sponsor. They have been with us the past five years,
Steadfast Sponsor, many others. The American Legion. We can go
(23:31):
on and on. They will be recognized at these ceremonies tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
This magical tree on your website, it's pretty cool because
what you do is you go wine, you find out
how much you want to donate, and then there's a ball,
a Christmas ball that you can put wherever, any place
you want to on the tree. And it's so cool.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
We also have lights on the tree too.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah. Cool. I wondering did you design it?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
We actually have it. It's a template and we have
a small subcommittee.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That put uh no, no, no, you're supposed to say I
designed Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
No, yeah, of course I just the one who designed it. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, No,
it's adorable.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
It's a family setting up a tree in front of
a fireplace.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And I'm sure you're going to be coming up with
some other good stuff for next year too, because I
love your events. Can you share anything anything's going on?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Well, Well, well, I was going to say, in the spring,
we'll have our our other Once upon a Time event.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
It's a it's a great event to talk about telling
our story of what our volunteers do, how they impact,
and we will have child actors there to kind of
exemplify different stories as well, and it's a it's a
great time.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I highly encourage you guys to stay on the lookout
for it.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I think you've been in Let me ask you this.
I know Laurie a lot of this comes because she's
a mom, right, you understand it, your non mom, your
daddy thought. Any job that I can see you, you
are happy in any job where you can make a
difference in kids' lives. How long have you been with
daulphin County cost Two years?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (25:06):
I joined in about the same time Jamie did, actually
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Tell me, did you ever think it was going to
be this? I don't want to say exciting, but you
could make because I'm watching you guys for a couple
of years and now has been good in branding you
and you're working so hard in coming up these good, normal,
normal quarimac abam. But did you ever think it was
(25:30):
going to be this? Do you think it was going
to be like, you know, hard, really hard work. I mean,
I'm sure it is, but I mean you've gotten a
lot of response in such a short time. I think,
what do.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You think Honestly, when I took over as executive director,
one of the first things I said was, we are
at the precipice of being able to slingshot forward. We
had such a great foundation, we just needed to let
loose and really get ourselves out there. And sure enough,
in twenty twenty four alone, we trained twenty eight volunteers.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
That's awesome. Do you realize that? Yeah, because I'll tell
you what. People come in here all the time nonprofits
and I'll say, well, what you need, we need volunteers,
we need It's tough and you're getting something. I mean,
you got to sell that idea of how you're getting
volunteered there you can find some money.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
For I try to share it out with the network,
and uh, it's it's incredible. I mean a lot of
it is the wonderful work from now McCormick abam of
getting us out there. But I mean the other part
of it is like we can get them through the door,
but it's it's really the support that we offer to
the volunteers that helps keep them there.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
And you know what people had said this on this
program before. People don't realize nonprofit organizations that everybody says, well,
they can get a grant. Yeah, they can't got a
grant that pays for program because it doesn't pay for training,
doesn't pay for staff. That's where you got to raise
your own money. And this program that you're doing, it
is all the money that you raise goes directly for
(26:58):
your cost of volunteer right.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
It goes to being able to run the program. I mean,
we are stretched pretty thin and we grew pretty quickly,
so these fundraisers are really important for us to be
able to continue to provide the support that the volunteers need.
We need to continue to raise the funding, which is
why the kickoff of the Giving Tree has been so
great for us. And this event, hopefully by the end
(27:22):
of this month will have raised enough money for us
to justifiably hire another staff person. That'd be great, and
then then we can do another training in the spring,
because right now, if we don't get to hire another
staff person, chances are we're going to have to postpone
a training. We have so many people coming through the
door right now, I really don't want to keep them waiting.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Well, there's always an opportunity to donate throughout the year,
and I want to ask you again if you want
to donate through the Christmas or I call it Christmas
the Magic Christmas Tree. That way till the end of December.
What's was it located?
Speaker 4 (27:58):
So we want everyone to go to Dauphincuntycosta dot org
slash tree. Okay, that's where you'll be able to donate
to our tree anywhere. From thirty dollars an up, you'll
get this wonderful commemorative ornament that was designed by one
of our fifteen year olds.
Speaker 5 (28:13):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
And it's a heart with a candy cane and a
nice little festive hat. And he designed it for his sister,
who's who he's not placed with, and he hasn't been
with her for quite some time, and so like that's
like his one family connection and so he designed it
in honor of his sister.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
That's awesome, guys. I can't say thank you enough. If
heroes go, you can't get any better than you. Guys.
The Honorable Loris Serrato, thank you for past president, founder
of the Dolphin of Doulphin County, CASA Executive director Will
Foster and volunteer advocate Jamie Wetzel, thanks so much. You
guys are awesome and guess what. You can become a
(28:53):
hero tu to over four hundred foster care kids in
Dauphin County as well by don't donating fundraisings and most importantly,
think about becoming a Costa volunteer. The address for the
website is that.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Will Douphincounty Kassa dot org.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Awesome. Don't forget that you can catch insight on or
can I hearts stations or any time on your favorite podcast. Now,
I'm Selvia Moss. This has been insight. Thanks so much
for listening. To see you next week.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Next case please.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I'm a foster kid who fell through the cracks because
I didn't have an advocate looking out for me.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I'm a homeless youth who hs out of the system
where I fell through the cracks because I didn't have
an advocate looking out for me.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I'm an inmate who is a homeless youth who aged
out of the system where I fell through the cracks.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Because I didn't have an advocate looking out for the outfit.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Make it stop, advocate donate at change their Narrative dot org.
Brought to you by the Dauphin County Court appointed Special Advocates.
Your voice is powerful, especially when you speak up for
a foster child. Jopphin County Court appointed Special Advocates CASA
needs your voice right now. Volunteer to help local foster
(30:08):
kids in our court system. The training is free and
there's no cost to participate. Just lend your voice to
a foster child. Visit Jouphincounty KASA dot org. That's JOFPHINCOUNTYCASA
dot org
Hi, I'm Sylvia Moss. This is Insight, a presentation of iHeartMedia,
where we really do care about our local communities and
all our listeners who live here. Americans are obsessed with heroes,
not the muscle bound guide with the cape that swoops
down and saves the day, no matter how handsome he is.
I'm referring to the people in our local communities who
(00:22):
pay attention seen injustice, and even when they come upon
obstacles and naysayers, they persevere to change things and make
a difference in our lives when others usually give up.
As one of those hero obsessed Americans, I can tell
you that those who never give up on doing the
right thing, especially when it comes to helping abuse and
(00:42):
neglected kids, are my true heroes. I am very honored
and excited to introduce you to the folks who have
changed the stories of so many foster care children. Here
right here in Dauphin County. With us are the Honorable
Lorie Sarah Telly, past president and founder of the Dauphin
County CASA, the executive director of Dolphin County CASA, will
(01:04):
foster and volunteer advocate for Doulphin County Cassa Jamie Wessel, guys,
to begin with this program, I think I want to
quote somebody. Actually it's it's Will Savor quote. I don't
know how I came across that, but what this pretty
much is talking about Lourie. According to Will, doctor seuss
(01:27):
One said, unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing's going to get better. It's not Lourie. Gosh. I
just said to her, you've already created a legacy, and
then you do go and do this. Tell us what
Dolphin County CASA is, who it serves, and because of
all the work you did for many years, you're responsible
(01:50):
for bringing it right here to this county.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Thank you, Sylvia. I won't take full credit. It does
take a village to bring the COSTA program to a county.
KASA Dauphin COUNTICASA is one of twenty one local programs
in Pennsylvania nationwide. It was a movement that started back
in the seventies when a judge and family court did
not really have enough information about the children who came
(02:16):
in front of him to make the right disposition. Dauphin
COUNTICASA trains community volunteers who are then assigned by a
judge to one child or sibling group, which is very
different than what a caseworker is dealing with. For example,
with dozens and dozens and dozens of cases, the court
(02:40):
does assign a guardian at letam to the child who's
an attorney to argue for their best interest. But they
have a caseload of about ninety on the average. So
it's such a different program in that the KASA volunteer
can make a direct connection with the child, be the
eyes and ears for the court. They write tremendous reports
(03:02):
every time a case is reviewed by a judge that
gives the judge as judged. Cherry has been quoted saying
it is his bible. He knows exactly what's happening in
that child's life in order to make the right disposition
whether they go back to their parents or stay in
foster care and hopefully be adopted someday.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
That's amazing. Talk about heroes. There you go again, and
I would say the main thing is empathy that you
folks have. You understand, you feel what, you want to
do something about it. You are the executive director for
a couple of years now, will talk about how these
kids come to the foster care system.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So a lot of our kids come to.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
The care of Children and Youth Services through abuse or neglect.
And you know, it takes a lot of eyes to
see what's going on in a child's life. So what
typically will happen is the kids will go to school
and teachers will notice something and they'll report it because
as mandated reporters. Anyone working with children in Pennsylvania as
(04:08):
a mandated reporter, so they have to report it. And
then thus starts the journey of children in youth trying
to figure out if this child is actually safe or not,
and if they're not, then that's when they come into
the foster cares.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
This one you're talking about, give me some examples of
what you've seen neglected or abused.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
So we've had, I mean, our volunteers get to see
the worst of the worst. So I mean, we've got
some children who are from other countries brought here illegally,
and we have other kids who just are in home
life situations that the parents just aren't necessarily don't have
(04:50):
the tools to be able to effectively parent, whether that's
through poverty or mental health concerns.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I mean, another big thing is the opioid crisis, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Oh yeah, a lot of our families are dealing with
substance use issues as well, and so I mean we
get to see the results of that with our kids.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Laurie, Before you created this situation, Droffen Couny, what happened
to those.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Kids before there was a cost program? Yeah, Children in
Youth is mandated to take the child and put them
in foster care. When I first started the idea of
the program, there were about six hundred children in foster care.
They got lost in the system. The caseworkers were overwhelmed.
(05:38):
There was one notorious case in twenty fourteen where even
though the caseworker went to the house, they never put
their eyes on the child who was up in an
attic starving to death. I mean, it was terrible. There
was quite a shake up in Children and Youth, and
I think that was when the court finally realized it's
time to have a cost of program.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I remember, not too long, weren't their children found in
Harrisburg that were starved? Yeah, that's you know, I can't
help it. I'm a mom, a grandmother, you know, and kids,
no matter how many issues I address on this program,
I got to be honest, kids, I can't help it.
And when I especially at times like this, and I
(06:20):
hear a lot of my friends' kids are spoiled, they
didn't get this. And then I think about those kids
who have no direction, sometimes have nothing to eat. They're
being physically and sexually emotionally abused. I think, oh, dear God,
this is real. This is and four hundred kids in
Dauphin County alone, wow, right in Harrisburg.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And it's it's kind of in the shadows. You don't
know who is experiencing.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
This, and it doesn't it's not necessarily like we used
to think about drug and alcohol addicted people. There's an
old guy sitting in an alley with a bottle booze
and a paper bag. It's not that way. Even it's
big shots abuse their kids, wealthy people and people who
don't have a good income. It's all around. And see,
(07:10):
I think that's what's so hard for people in this area.
Even though they're the most generous people in the world,
they sometimes they're in denial about this stuff going on,
whether it's drugging, alcohol abuse, or whether it's these terrible
things happen to kids. Have you found that to be
a case.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Still. Yes, part of it is because it's such a
confidential system. It's meant to be confidential, so people are
not identifying these children. But that keeps it, like I said,
in the shadows, so it's not known. But you're right,
it could be from Hershey, it could be inner city Harrisburg,
it could be rural. Mental health issues are big.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Mental health is a number one issue in this country. Yeah,
I mean, they can't get away from it. And that's
what I think that people are in denial about that
more than anything else, you know. So if you can't,
if you don't realize you have an issue, it's not
going to it's not going to change. So we all
know that. Well, your biggest focus has been to get
(08:12):
these costs of volunteers right now. You lot this past
year you pick up quite a few, So you're doing
something right and you're not with this organization real roll along.
It's got to be you and what you're doing. First
of all, tell us what a costa volunteer does, what
they're responsible for, and what type of training they receive.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So our volunteers come from all walks of life.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
They have to be twenty one or older and be
able to pass background checks. And so what they're responsible
for are finding out everything they can about this child
and what's going on in their life to really paint
a picture for the judge. So the judge can, as
Lourie said before, have an adequate amount of information to
make the right decisions.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
And it's one on one. It's not, like Laurie said,
like the social workers, they've got a caseload of many, many, many.
This is totally focusing on the skit. Let me ask
you this, what determines which child goes to which volunteers there?
Do you have a system for that?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
We've we've revamped how we've matched our volunteers a lot
because we've gotten a lot better partnerships with children and
youth and the caseworkers and the guardian d items.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So what we do is we meet with the.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Caseworker and get as much of a history as we
can for the child, and then based on our interactions
with the volunteer and what's going on in that child's life,
we kind of try to match people up with strengths.
Of course, some volunteers prefer working with older kids or
younger kids, so that is a little bit more of
a determining factor. So there's a lot of variable set.
(09:51):
But when we when we settle on a match, we
give the volunteer an opportunity to refute, and if they
decide that that's not a good mix for them, I mean,
it has to be a good fit on both sides
of this, then we find them someone else. Because unfortunately,
there's almost four hundred kids in foster care in care.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I can't believe that's so.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, if we can't match, if it's not a good
fit in that particular moment, we have someone to back
them up. But usually our program supervisor and I are
really good at finding the right matches.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So okay, it works. Well.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
What should a person who's listening to this program and think, hmm,
that's interesting, Maybe I should find out about this. What
type of time commitment is there? First of all, the
second part of that question is from what I understand,
if you still have a full time job, you can
still be a cost of volunteer. Right.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yes, we have quite a few people who are working
full time and doing a stellar job advocating for their kiddos,
But really the standard is ten to fifteen hours a
month approximately, in that you have to visit your kid
once a month and it can be placed anywhere in
Pennsylvania and beyond, or they have to and they have
(11:07):
to go through our forty hour pre service training.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Okay, what's that? What kind of training is it?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So we spend about forty hours going through the ins
and outs of what ACASTA does and how they do it,
and we give them an introduction, at the very least
to very hard subjects trauma, domestic violence, good substance abuse, health,
mental health challenges, things like that, and we get them
acclimated to the subject matter that they're going to be
(11:35):
dealing with. So once they get through that, they get
to observe a court hearing and really feel what it's
like to be in the courtroom. And then we get
them sworn in by a judge and it's just like
a really magical culmination of all of their hard work
over forty hours to be recognized by the judge.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Jamie, you're pretty awesome from what I here. Tell us
you're a cost of volunteer. You first heard about this
when you were living in California, right, correct, tell us
your story.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
So, there actually was a fundraiser that the California program
used to do to support CASA. They packed bag lunches
and the kids would put a picture in there, and
I'd always hang it on my Cube and I was like, Oh,
what's you know, it's more than a lunch. What is
this about? Tell me more. I had a peer who
was a CASA and I really wanted to get involved
(12:32):
to help youth. I'm really passionate about that. Unfortunately, I
had very small children at the time. I was going
through grad school. It just wasn't the time commitment. But
I kept tracking the program, looking for ways to get involved.
I moved back from California to Pennsylvania, and, as my
luck would have it, within about my first year back,
Dauphin County started a program. I was super excited. I
(12:52):
reached out and I began the process that Will was
sharing with you.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And now, Ma Cassa, tell me about this young guy.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
He's amazing. He probably doesn't want to be called a
young guy anymore. He's nineteen. I still called me a guy.
It's when I first met him. I actually remember the
day met him was at a court hearing. Is the
first time that he met me, and he was told
here's going to be her casa, and Will was there
and I just introduced myself, told him, you know, kind
(13:20):
of what my role was going to be, saw how
it would go, and he sat down right beside me,
started talking to me. And I was very fortunate that
it was an instant bond. You never know, you know,
these kids are seeing a lot, and especially older youth,
you know, they've been through a lot, They've had letdowns.
It's hard for them to trust. But short story, you know,
I ended up bonding, finding out what his goals were,
(13:43):
and we pushed him through. You know, I kept showing up,
letting him know I'm not here to judge you and
I'm not going to go away. And it was a
good balance of accountability for his decisions and me being
there to give him what he needed. And big success.
He was able to graduate high school first in his
family and I was able to be there for that.
So now he's just exploring adulthood. There are some some
(14:05):
bumps with that because again, you know, these kids have
not had the background and the support system the whole time.
And I find even as an adult sometimes I can't
navigate around so him, you know, just figuring out who
he wants to be where he's going to go, venturing
out on his own, and I'm here to support him.
Even though he's no longer a youth and he turned
to eighteen, I'm still here to advocate for him.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And you ended up supporting his sister, right correct.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
He also has a sister who was removed from the home,
so he stayed. She was removed from the home, and
I was able to form somewhat of a relationship with her.
Not quite the same again, different circumstances and different ways
of responding to your life trauma. But I have been
able to, you know, check on her. Was able to
get her removed from the initial placement that she was at,
(14:52):
which was like a drug and alcohol recovery placement, so
after she no longer needed to be there, was able
to find her other productive placements, to work with her
on what her goals are and where she wants to
go and find find her value.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
What you learn about yourself.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
I learned I'm a lot more sensitive than I realized
that I was. You know, everything makes me very emotional.
I learned my capacity for patients though, And.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, you had were you're doing this, you had three children?
What is it an old child, right, and you had
you had young ones too while you were doing this.
I mean, a mom is a full time job, it is.
So how did your kids the young ones react to this?
Speaker 5 (15:36):
They love it. They think that it's great. It's always
a good opportunity for me to share with them, to
remember what they have. Sometimes they forget. They probably get
upset because I always turn it into a lesson of
you don't know, the kids that don't have things, you
should be grateful. But they get very excited when I'm
doing something. They always ask is this for your Cassa kid? Said, yes,
(15:56):
it's for my Cassa kid. So I think it's also,
you know, the next generation teaching them, you know, to
help and to be really little softer and sometimes you
just really don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
That's right, absolutely, I've been a proponent of that for years.
We have to figure away, but we need the support
of parents who realize that too, that it's not all
about you. And I've seen a lot of children who
have said even I can remember my own son who's
in his forties now, taking him to a nursing home
(16:29):
where these folks they bring him in every every week
to an activity center at the nursing home and a
lot of them had strokes and hadn't spoken for years.
Young man sat down, started playing a bicycle, a bicycle
built for two. These people started singing, and he was just,
oh my god, Mom, can we come back here? This
(16:50):
is so cool? And when these kids also they volunteer,
they feel so good about themselves. They're going to find
out that they're you know, they're getting more than their
they're putting out there. So we got a figure. Let's
talk after this. Okay, I've been talking about this for years,
but anyway, I wanted to ask you, how what would
you say to people out there that are listening that
(17:12):
would encourage them to become cost of volunteers.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
I think when I think of this, it's always been
pretty simple for me. Sit and think about your roughest
a day, not necessarily even as a child, as an adult,
where you felt very overwhelmed or lonely or lost and
you just wished that there was somebody there to just
help you or ventu or give you some guidance. That
is really all a CASA is. I mean, there's more
(17:38):
to it, and I tend to oversimplify, but if you've
ever thought, man, I just wish there had been someone
to be there to help me or support me or listen.
You can be that for someone else, and it does
give you a lot of yourself, you know, it helps
you to find some things in yourself to get through. Imagine,
that's really what these kids need. Oftentimes they're overlooked, not
(17:58):
listened to, and they can find their spark if you're
just there to show them that they matter. Just you
are showing up. So I encourage people, if you've ever
just wanted to be a support system, reach out.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Talk to Will.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
He can tell you, you know, all about how to
get involved. I know he gave some scary hours. That
sounds like there's a lot, but it did not feel
like forty hours of training. I was like, oh, training's
done already, and saying that we do like fifteen to
twenty hours a month. It just it becomes a part
of who you are and you can do it if
you care about people, it will come naturally. And I
(18:31):
encourage you to reach out. Really does make a difference.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I want to ask Lori and Will Years, what's the
phrase I'm looking for. There's accountability. Tell us how this
program has changed kids. What an impact has it had
on kids in Gaulphin County? The kids have gone through
the system, do they do bedroom school? I mean, what's
(18:54):
their attitude when they go back home?
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I think a lot of our kids when they come
out with especially with the volunteer, they're less likely to
go back into care and part of that is the
extra eyes and ears that our volunteers bring. We also
do a lot of research for resources, like there are
resources out there that.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
We can that may not be typically used.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And we kind of bring that to the forefront and go, hey,
this would be really helpful. And I think that creates
better outcomes for not just a kiddo but the family.
So if they do end up going back to the family,
they're more likely to have solid footing.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Lord, you're a judge, I mean what impact? I mean,
what did you see as far as the impact it's
had on these kids.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, I was in family court and certainly I had
my share of cases involving abuse. I think the cost
of system and when I was a judge, I was
just getting started with the program, so it didn't come
into existence really to operate until twenty nineteen. But knowing
other cost of programs Lancaster or Cumberland County, York have
(20:01):
in existence for decades, and I've had the opportunity to
see children who graduated high school, who went on to college,
who rave about how the one person who made such
a difference in their life was their cost of volunteer.
So there is enough history in this program to know
it works and that it really does. Not to be trite,
(20:26):
but it does change a child's life.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
How can it not. Yeah, what was the hardest part
for you, Jamie, being a CASA.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
Not being able to fix everything? Yeah, well, yeah, that's
probably the hardest part. Realizing you got to set a boundary.
There is some accountability, there is, you know, some you
got to put on the parents, and some of that
even in my experience was the parents probably could have
used a CASSA, but we didn't have one, you know,
twenty thirty years ago, you know, so trying to help
(20:56):
them through. But I think the biggest struggle is when
you set an ideal because you want to save the
world and you want to make it better, and some
days it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Do you meet the parents, yes, okay.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Yes, as Akasa, you're supposed to be checking in both
on the parents to make sure that they are doing
what they're supposed to, so you can report back to
the court out what's really happening at home, what you're
noticing from the parents, you know, if they're in a
place to take the children back. As well as meeting
with the children.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Do they seem appreciative of what their children have experienced
with you?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
In my experience, very much so good, very much so.
They appreciated having that extra, you know, hand there to
help them because they realize, you know, they're falling a
little bit short as well.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Laurie takes a heck of a lot of money for
your training, for your cost of volunteers. And I know
you're always having fundraisers. I've been to them this past week.
You've had the I think it's your what fifth adversary
for your giving tree? Tell us what that was, what
happened like, who was there? And it also shows that
it's not just individuals. Businesses get involved with this right absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
This concept of the giving tree originated during COVID. We
were about to have an in person fundraiser and lockdown happened,
so we quickly came up with this idea of having
a virtual holiday tree on our website. A lot of
nonprofits were doing similar things and this is really turned
(22:23):
into a massively successful fundraiser. It is for the whole
month of December, beginning on Giving Tuesday, which is December
third this year. We are going to be in the
Linglestown Square. They have a beautiful live tree where we'll
have our kickoff.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Well that's yeah, okay, you did that, okay, and then
what happened? What all goes on there.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
We will have an mc valpritcher from ABC twenty seven.
We will have a volunteer speaking. I believe, we're going
to have the Linglestown Elementary Children's Chorus singing, which will
be adorable and wonderful. Is at five point thirty we
will light the tree. Saint Thomas Roasters providing hot chocolate
for everyone. Is going to be very chilly tomorrow night,
(23:09):
but that is just the beginning. We are sending everyone
to our website at Dauphincountycosta dot org slash tree to
make a donation. We have sponsors. Midpen Bank is our
premier sponsor. They have been with us the past five years,
Steadfast Sponsor, many others. The American Legion. We can go
(23:31):
on and on. They will be recognized at these ceremonies tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
This magical tree on your website, it's pretty cool because
what you do is you go wine, you find out
how much you want to donate, and then there's a ball,
a Christmas ball that you can put wherever, any place
you want to on the tree. And it's so cool.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
We also have lights on the tree too.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah. Cool. I wondering did you design it?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
We actually have it. It's a template and we have
a small subcommittee.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That put uh no, no, no, you're supposed to say I
designed Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
No, yeah, of course I just the one who designed it. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, No,
it's adorable.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
It's a family setting up a tree in front of
a fireplace.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And I'm sure you're going to be coming up with
some other good stuff for next year too, because I
love your events. Can you share anything anything's going on?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Well, Well, well, I was going to say, in the spring,
we'll have our our other Once upon a Time event.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
It's a it's a great event to talk about telling
our story of what our volunteers do, how they impact,
and we will have child actors there to kind of
exemplify different stories as well, and it's a it's a
great time.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I highly encourage you guys to stay on the lookout
for it.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I think you've been in Let me ask you this.
I know Laurie a lot of this comes because she's
a mom, right, you understand it, your non mom, your
daddy thought. Any job that I can see you, you
are happy in any job where you can make a
difference in kids' lives. How long have you been with
daulphin County cost Two years?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (25:06):
I joined in about the same time Jamie did, actually
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Tell me, did you ever think it was going to
be this? I don't want to say exciting, but you
could make because I'm watching you guys for a couple
of years and now has been good in branding you
and you're working so hard in coming up these good, normal,
normal quarimac abam. But did you ever think it was
(25:30):
going to be this? Do you think it was going
to be like, you know, hard, really hard work. I mean,
I'm sure it is, but I mean you've gotten a
lot of response in such a short time. I think,
what do.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You think Honestly, when I took over as executive director,
one of the first things I said was, we are
at the precipice of being able to slingshot forward. We
had such a great foundation, we just needed to let
loose and really get ourselves out there. And sure enough,
in twenty twenty four alone, we trained twenty eight volunteers.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
That's awesome. Do you realize that? Yeah, because I'll tell
you what. People come in here all the time nonprofits
and I'll say, well, what you need, we need volunteers,
we need It's tough and you're getting something. I mean,
you got to sell that idea of how you're getting
volunteered there you can find some money.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
For I try to share it out with the network,
and uh, it's it's incredible. I mean a lot of
it is the wonderful work from now McCormick abam of
getting us out there. But I mean the other part
of it is like we can get them through the door,
but it's it's really the support that we offer to
the volunteers that helps keep them there.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
And you know what people had said this on this
program before. People don't realize nonprofit organizations that everybody says, well,
they can get a grant. Yeah, they can't got a
grant that pays for program because it doesn't pay for training,
doesn't pay for staff. That's where you got to raise
your own money. And this program that you're doing, it
is all the money that you raise goes directly for
(26:58):
your cost of volunteer right.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
It goes to being able to run the program. I mean,
we are stretched pretty thin and we grew pretty quickly,
so these fundraisers are really important for us to be
able to continue to provide the support that the volunteers need.
We need to continue to raise the funding, which is
why the kickoff of the Giving Tree has been so
great for us. And this event, hopefully by the end
(27:22):
of this month will have raised enough money for us
to justifiably hire another staff person. That'd be great, and
then then we can do another training in the spring,
because right now, if we don't get to hire another
staff person, chances are we're going to have to postpone
a training. We have so many people coming through the
door right now, I really don't want to keep them waiting.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Well, there's always an opportunity to donate throughout the year,
and I want to ask you again if you want
to donate through the Christmas or I call it Christmas
the Magic Christmas Tree. That way till the end of December.
What's was it located?
Speaker 4 (27:58):
So we want everyone to go to Dauphincuntycosta dot org
slash tree. Okay, that's where you'll be able to donate
to our tree anywhere. From thirty dollars an up, you'll
get this wonderful commemorative ornament that was designed by one
of our fifteen year olds.
Speaker 5 (28:13):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
And it's a heart with a candy cane and a
nice little festive hat. And he designed it for his sister,
who's who he's not placed with, and he hasn't been
with her for quite some time, and so like that's
like his one family connection and so he designed it
in honor of his sister.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
That's awesome, guys. I can't say thank you enough. If
heroes go, you can't get any better than you. Guys.
The Honorable Loris Serrato, thank you for past president, founder
of the Dolphin of Doulphin County, CASA Executive director Will
Foster and volunteer advocate Jamie Wetzel, thanks so much. You
guys are awesome and guess what. You can become a
(28:53):
hero tu to over four hundred foster care kids in
Dauphin County as well by don't donating fundraisings and most importantly,
think about becoming a Costa volunteer. The address for the
website is that.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Will Douphincounty Kassa dot org.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Awesome. Don't forget that you can catch insight on or
can I hearts stations or any time on your favorite podcast. Now,
I'm Selvia Moss. This has been insight. Thanks so much
for listening. To see you next week.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Next case please.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I'm a foster kid who fell through the cracks because
I didn't have an advocate looking out for me.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
I'm a homeless youth who hs out of the system
where I fell through the cracks because I didn't have
an advocate looking out for me.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I'm an inmate who is a homeless youth who aged
out of the system where I fell through the cracks.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Because I didn't have an advocate looking out for the outfit.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Make it stop, advocate donate at change their Narrative dot org.
Brought to you by the Dauphin County Court appointed Special Advocates.
Your voice is powerful, especially when you speak up for
a foster child. Jopphin County Court appointed Special Advocates CASA
needs your voice right now. Volunteer to help local foster
(30:08):
kids in our court system. The training is free and
there's no cost to participate. Just lend your voice to
a foster child. Visit Jouphincounty KASA dot org. That's JOFPHINCOUNTYCASA
dot org
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