Hi *{{Informal Name}}*,

I can't believe it, but the holiday season is upon us! As we approach Thanksgiving, please know we are so thankful for your friendship. Your support is helping the most vulnerable children in our community have hope again. Children in foster care who have a CASA volunteer have been shown to have greater levels of hope. Having hope leads to better physical and mental health, better relationships, healing, and overall better outcomes in life. Every child who has experienced abuse or neglect deserves this! Let's keep working together so every child can have a caring advocate who will help them find that hope again.

Thankful for you,

Angela Carson

Development and Marketing Manager

Heart of Missouri CASA

No Child Forgotten

We want every child to feel the joy of opening gifts on Christmas morning, no matter where they are this year. We recently learned there are 10 CASA kids who aren't eligible for other giving programs this year (due to being on trial home placement or in an unconventional placement) and we are asking for your help. We would like to give CASA volunteers a $100 gift card per child to purchase gifts and deliver some joy to them this Christmas! Can you help us? Click on the image above or donate here. Thank you!

New Board Members!

We are delighted to introduce the newest additions to Heart of Missouri CASA's Board of Directors! Katherine Christenson, Dave Llewellyn, and Julie Wesley recently joined the board, and we want you to get to know a little bit about them. We are confident they will make our organization even stronger in the days ahead and we're so thankful they have chosen to dedicate themselves to the mission of Heart of Missouri CASA.

Katherine believes that the future of our community and our country is in our children. She has spent many years in education on the school board, substitute teaching and volunteering in the local schools. She is devoted to enhancing the lives of children through her support of CASA.

Katherine lives in Fulton, Mo and is involved in her family business, Christensen Construction Company. She enjoys spending time with her 4 sons and their families, especially her 5 grandchildren.

Dave is a proud husband to wife Mandy and father to his 3 kids, Maddie (18), Stu (16), and Duncan (10). Originally from Illinois, Dave moved to the Columbia area in 2006 after spending 7 years in Colorado. He has been with Veterans United Home Loans for the last 10 years currently serving the role of Associate Director of Production. Dave is passionate about the CASA mission as his mother, Yuki, was a CASA volunteer in Illinois. Active within the community for the last several years, Dave is excited to help raise awareness to Heart of Missouri CASA and do what he can to help achieve our goals of serving every child in need in Boone and Calloway Counties.

Julie and one of her teammates and became interested in CASA in 2016 through a close friend who is a foster parent. After being sworn in, they received our first case…3 teenage siblings! This case was very “eye-opening” to Julie about all the facets of the foster care system. She also partnered with her daughter, Rachel who is a CASA, on another case. Both cases were very different and had very different outcomes.

Julie has lived in Columbia since 1977 and has been a Broker/Realtor since 1982. After mentoring many agents in real estate through the years, she now leads her own team at House of Brokers – TigerHomeTeam.com. For several years now, their agents at House of Brokers have donated to the GIVING TREE ~ last year they sponsored 15 kiddos.

Julie has been married for 33 years to her husband, Rick, who just recently retired from the agriculture industry in September. They have two daughters and one son- all three Mizzou grads like their mom (Dad went to Mississippi State). Their family loves outdoor adventures and exploring all around the U.S.; hiking, pickleball, game nights and water sports are all favorites. They love getting together with friends and family at Lake of the Ozarks and enjoying ALL that Columbia has to offer!

CoMoGives 2022 Is Almost Here

It's almost time for CoMoGives! Heart of Missouri CASA is one of 152 Mid-Missouri nonprofits participating in this year's campaign. Our goal is raise 800 HOURS of advocacy for children in 2023! That means our goal is to raise $20,000. CoMoGives is set to kick off on Giving Tuesday, November 29th. We invite you to mark your calendars and help us reach our big goal this year. 800 hours of advocacy will make a life changing impact for so many children in foster care here in Boone and Callaway counties!

Above and Beyond

Kathryn Fishman-Weaver is one of our amazing advocates. For her birthday this year, she did a duffle bag drive for the youth we serve. As an educator and parent herself, she sees the importance of youth participating in sports and wanted to remove a barrier of participation for some. She has observed some foster youth carrying their uniforms and equipment in their arms or a grocery bag, and she wanted them to have real bag they can feel confident carrying.

Kathryn said, "During the drive, I got to see the middle school student who inspired this play at a few of his first school football games! At one of those games he made a real play. It was about 4 seconds long, and you could have heard my mom and me hollering from across town. Youth sports matter. Being on a team, being connected to school, practicing courage and friendship on and off the field—that's what it's all about."

She rallied her friends, family, and faith community to meet this need, and they did! Thank you so much to Kathryn, and everyone who donated, for supporting foster youth in sports.

Join Our Next Volunteer Training

Are you ready to take the next step and become a CASA? Our next available class is set to begin on January 19th! For more information, call us at (573) 442-4670, email us at hello@homcasa.org, or register for one of our no-obligation information sessions.

Winter Class

1/19/2023: In-person Kick-off 5:30-6:30 pm
1/26/2023: In-person Session 1: 5:30-8:30 pm
2/2/2023: In-person Session 2: 5:30-8:30 pm
2/9/2023: In-person Session 3: 5:30-8:30 pm
2/16/2023: In-person Session 4: 5:30-8:30 pm
2/23/2023: In-person Session 5: 5:30-8:30 pm

Training is made up of 15 hours in-person and 15 hours online.

If you are ready to apply now, you can do so on our website!