Haley Kittrell Executive Director of CASA of Marshall County said “I don’t have time to volunteer is one of the most frequently stated phrases I hear when going out to recruit new Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteers.”
James (Jamie) Erwin, the August CASA Volunteer of the Month is able to advocate for children who have been identified as abused/neglected while owning his own business, The Pickin Patch, spending time with his family and volunteering his time in many other ways to help the community.
Jamie is a member of the local Lions Club, is on the Board of both Encore Performing Arts and the Marshall County Historical Society and he’s also on the Marshall County Community Foundation Grants Committee.
Jamie chose to become a CASA Volunteer in 2009 and is currently on his fourth case. He’s advocated for six children to date! While there is often a stereotype of a CASA Volunteer being female, Jamie breaks the mold! In fact, Jamie is one of eight male volunteers in Marshall County so out of approximately forty volunteers. Kittrell said, “We are fortunate that we do have males stepping up to advocate for kids!”
Kittrell said, “One of the greatest things about CASA is that our volunteers really become the ‘expert’ on the kids they advocate for as they have one case at a time.” (a case is a family). They get to know the children they advocate for and continue to advocate for them no matter how many times they move foster homes or schools or change caseworkers.
The CASA Director said, “During the recent abnormally low caseload, Jamie would call or stop in frequently and ask me, are there any kids that need me?” While having a lower caseload of children identified as abused/neglected is not a bad thing, Jamie wanted to make sure that if there were children in need out there, he was doing all he could
CASA of Marshall County will be doing a training class in the spring for new volunteers. If you would like to know more about it, please contact Haley at (574) 952-1443 or visit our website at www.marshallcountycasa.org! You must be 21 years old and be able to pass a criminal and CPS background check.
