There is a silver lining in nearly everything and for Pioneer Territory Court Appointed Special Advocates, the silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is the realization that conducting its advocate training courses online is not only quite easy, it has the potential to boost the overall success of the organization as a whole. As a result, the organization is now planning to shift its operations so that all of its training courses going forward are conducted virtually.
Pioneer Territory Court Appointed Advocates, more commonly referred to simply as CASA, is a nonprofit organization serving the communities of Nye and Esmeralda counties. The organization has been in place since 2008 and in the past 12 years, the work its volunteer advocates have accomplished has touched the lives of dozens upon dozens of children in the foster care system.
The primary goal of CASA is to recruit, train and support volunteer advocates. Without these generous men and women offering their time and energy, CASA would not be able to have the positive impact it has on foster youth. That’s why CASA Executive Director Kathie McKenna was so excited about the outcome of the organization’s most recent training session, which took place in the heart of the COVID-19 crisis. After several weeks of a 30-hour training course, seven new CASAs were sworn in and she was bubbling with enthusiasm for the new set of volunteers.
“Due to COVID-19, all of our classes were done online. It worked so well that we will be moving forward on a full-time basis to doing classes online,” McKenna told the Pahrump Valley Times on Monday, June 15. “Presently, we are serving 37 cases, totaling 60 youth,” McKenna detailed. “Remaining, we have 39 cases, totaling 54 youth. These seven advocates will allow us to cover seven cases and 11 children, getting us one step closer to having an advocate for every set of siblings!”
CASA is always looking to add more volunteers to its rank and anyone interested in potentially becoming a CASA volunteer is encouraged to head to the organization’s website ptcasanv.org to learn more.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com