When you go through recruitment, you're suffocated with information from every sorority about their philanthropies. From breast cancer awareness to arthritis, sorority girls are making a big difference all over the country and even the world. Maybe your sorority's philanthropy is the reason you chose the house you did. Or maybe philanthropy is the reason you chose to go Greek in the first place. But how much information could you have really gotten out of a 10 minute presentation about so-and-so's philanthropy, especially when you were busy worrying about what you were going to say next and whether you had pit stains or not?
Everyone (well hopefully everyone) knows about the highly publicized philanthropies, such as breast cancer awareness (Zeta Tau Alpha) or the Ronald McDonald House (Alpha Delta Pi), and what they do, or don't, stand for. There is nothing wrong with this, but when I went through recruitment I had never heard of Kappa Alpha Theta's philanthropy, CASA, so I've decided to spread the word a bit more, because it's an amazing cause and everyone needs to know about the amazing things its doing!
CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. As the CASA website states, "CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don't get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in inappropriate group or foster homes."
Basically, volunteers become a voice for an abused/neglected child, in an otherwise-adult world. Maybe the child has an abusive foster parent but can't voice it themselves, or maybe the child has special needs unbeknownst to the foster care system. Volunteers voice these issues to the court system.
What's even cooler about CASA volunteers? They become a stable figure in the child's life, when there might not be any other stability there. They're a familiar face in a scary courthouse and a person they can confide in.
Unfortunately, CASA volunteers must be 21 years old and must be a stable figure (aka no college students that have 5495489 things going on in their lives). This may look like a very limiting philanthropy for college women, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
So what does Kappa Alpha Theta do for CASA? It costs $1000 to train a CASA volunteer. That's a lot of money, especially for a volunteer program. Theta does everything they can to raise money to provide as many volunteers as possible for each area CASA program.
Here at TCU, all we need is one event to raise money for CASA: the Theta 5k. Each year we host a 5k during Parents' Weekend to raise money for the local Tarrant County CASA. This past year, the Gamma Psi chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta raised over $63,000! That's enough money to train 63 CASA volunteers, who will each help at least 63 neglected children in Tarrant County, Texas. Across the nation, Kappa Alpha Theta raises millions of dollars for CASA.
I'm so proud to be part of something that makes such a big difference in the world. CASA may not be a household name yet, but it will be in the future. We need continued support for these children and the only way to do so is if people know about it. If you want to donate or volunteer for CASA, visit their website here.
