CASA Newsletter - July 2007
Advocacy: Priceless!
CASA Board Member Jim Kennedy, Jr. is an avid Devil Rays fan and loyal CASA advocate who, like many fans and players, has been greatly disturbed by the stories in the press about the Ray’s Elijah Duke’s negative behavior and allegations of domestic violence. While dining at his favorite before-game restaurant, Jim’s spirits were buoyed by a friend with a priceless message that he’d like to share with you.
“Kenny Medeiros, a friend of mine, approached me at a local restaurant on Friday, June 1, just before the Devil Rays game. He held up a banner which read,
Payroll $24,000,000.00
Dukes $380,000.00
CASA – Priceless
As he held up the banner, other restaurant patrons read it and spontaneous applause started. A group of around 20 left the restaurant and went to the game with the banner in tow. They displayed the banner from their seats in centerfield so Elijah would be sure to see it, plus Kenny and some of his friends did a lap around the field.
“In the break between the 6th and 7th innings, Kenny and I held up the banner so that the lower bowl could read it. It was displayed to each third of the lower level and there was loud applause with some fans showing their approval by standing ovations,” Jim reports with a smile.
With tax cuts looming, it's especially inspiring when a long-time board member like Jim Kennedy and his friends find creative ways to keep CASA in the public eye. CASA’s mission is to advocate for and empower survivors of domestic violence and their children. CASA families and staff applaud Jim for his loyal and passionate support and Kenny and his friends for their initiative in raising the awareness of domestic violence at Tropicana Field. It takes the whole community to end domestic violence.
Want to make a difference?
Here are a couple of creative ideas.
Below is just the latest crop of ways people in the community are inventing to support CASA! We want to inspire you to lend a hand and/or a donation - in your own way - to realize CASA’s mission, and its name, Community Action Stops Abuse!
McLauchlan family and friends celebrate a birthday with presents for CASA
Birthday Beach Party
Little Peggy McLauchlan (third child from the right on the front row) had a birthday beach party with her friends and neighbors on Madeira Beach on Sunday, June 3rd. Her mom, Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, asked all party-goers to consider bringing a donation for a CASA survivor and gave the Wish List address on the CASA website to help them select a gift. As you can see, a great time was had by all, and CASA participants benefited from gas cards, stamps and personal care items.
Obstacle Course Challenge
Rachel Liggio is a CASA board member who works in the Human Resources department at Sembler, a prominent St. Petersburg-based real estate development company.
As part of a recent team building day, employees at Sembler participated in an obstacle course at the beach that involved timed runs in a potato sack, crawling under wooden barriers, spinning hula hoops and other physical maneuvers. One employee created a challenge that any other employee who beat his time would win a $100 donation to CASA. Not to be outdone, another challenger offered to contribute $500 to CASA on behalf of anyone who beat the original challenge. Another agreed to donate $500 on behalf of any woman who beat the challenger. Rachel beat the challenge along with several other female Sembler employees. At the end of the day, Sembler employees raised $2,600 for to support CASA programs and participants!
Rachel is another CASA board member, like Jim Kennedy, who includes raising awareness, and donations, for CASA as a part of her work day!
Spencer Gray
New Volunteer Serves and Learns
E.A. Spencer Gray, a talented 19 year old junior at the Savannah College of Art and Design thought he was simply completing a requirement to fulfill community service hours for school. Spencer did a local online search for Women’s Resources. He found CASA. He called to set up an appointment. He attended Volunteer Orientation and by the next week he was busy helping out in the Thrift Shoppe. He imagined doing whatever was necessary, cleaning, washing the windows, sorting and carrying clothing, simple and basic, and not much more…
Within days of his initial encounter with CASA his church sponsored a lecture on domestic violence. Not only did Spencer attend, he started to see the connection between the assignment, CASA, and the church lecture.
A few days after he started volunteering, he asked to interview Cara Cohn, CASA’s Volunteer Coordinator, for school. While he interviewed her, she interviewed him. She asked him about his experiences with friends growing up. Had he ever known anyone who wasn’t getting the respect they deserved in a relationship? “When I was in middle school and high school I watched my friends pairing off. I saw first hand how some of my friends treated their girlfriends. I also saw how the girls just took it.” I asked if he ever said anything about this behavior to his friends. “Ah… No. But now, now I would not only talk to my friends, but I could give them information about how and where to get help.”
Later, Geri Morris, who works with our Thrift Shoppe volunteers, gathered all the student volunteers together for a brainstorming session. She challenged them to help CASA come up with ways to increase revenue in the Thrift Shoppe. One idea that caught on involves taking photographs and posting them with descriptions of available merchandise online. Students look at these sites to find furniture and household items. Since he is studying photography and graphic design, Spencer got busy shooting photos of merchandise all over our Thrift Shoppe.
Spencer’s newly acquired knowledge about domestic violence prevention, and how he can help, led to greater awareness in his life and world. Simultaneously, CASA gained new ideas from an untapped group and new ways to support the services it provides by utilizing the internet in CASA's marketing. It’s a definition of win/win! |
