CASA celebrating 30 years, asking for volunteers to serve more children.

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - This year marks 30 years of CASA of the South Plains serving vulnerable children, and to continue serving those children, they’re asking for your help.

“We’ve had strong advocacy over the last 30 years, and we’ve also seen amazing growth throughout our organization,” Marketing and Events Manager Lauren White said.

When children enter the foster care system, their lives have been uprooted and they may have no one to depend on.

“These children at no fault of their own, they enter the system and it’s very unknowing for them, very unfamiliar, their normalcy sometimes is chaos,” Director of Communications Tabitha Rendon said.

These vulnerable children have a lot of needs in this time and many judges or social workers assigned to their case may have 20 to 30 other cases. That’s when Court Appointed Special Advocates step in.

“They know the child, often the best, and they make sure that nothing gets dropped for them and if something is supposed to get done it gets done,” Rendon said.

Within the six counties that CASA of the South Plains serves, more than 900 children were in the foster care system in 2022; CASA advocated for almost half of them.

“Every year were growing and were moving that number closer to that 100% mark” Rendon said.

But they can’t serve every last child without the help from the community and becoming a volunteer can be a huge decision.

“And we know that and were aware of that, but once you make that big choice, you are not alone,” Lauren White said.

And the choice you make might change your life forever.

“They thought that they were going to be changing a child’s life and they loved that opportunity, but when it’s all said and done their life was affected way more than they could have ever imagined,” White said.

CASA will have their 30th Anniversary ribbon cutting on Sept. 19, 4 p.m. at 4601 S Loop 289, Suite 25 in Lubbock.

If you are interested in volunteering, the last training session is in October and is approaching fast, you can find more information on signing up for that here.

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