T-Mobile announced last month a donation of $50,000 to five non-profit organizations. One of those was Court Appointed Special Advocates of Contra Costa County (CASA) who received $10,000.
Along with CASA, the organizations included: Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland, Common Ground Society, Raphael House San Francisco and the Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area — each received $10,000 to support their vital programs and initiatives.
T-Mobile employees in California had the opportunity to choose the organizations as part of the company’s Difference Maker Award — a quarterly recognition program that the Un-carrier started last year to recognize top-ranked business performance areas across the company. Winning employees presented checks and participated in a day of service at each organization. This marks the program’s fourth quarterly recognition, following Puerto Rico, Virginia and Hawaii and Washington.
“The Difference Maker Award goes beyond recognition — it’s about celebrating our employees and giving them the power to make a real difference,” said Jon Freier, President, T-Mobile Consumer Group. “As we cheer on our Northern California employees for their incredible efforts, we’ve also topped $200,000 in charitable donations since launching the program, showing our commitment to creating positive change in communities nationwide.”
Letter to the Editor:
Dear Editor,
CASA of Contra Costa County, a long-time Contra Costa County non-profit, has benefited from the support of corporations. Corporate support provides revenue for our programs that support foster youth and give them hope and options for a more successful life. The positive for corporations (and also small businesses) is that their branding is viewed by our supporters, among others, and the corporation or business becomes known for their good works. Corporate/business giving is an example of community supporting nonprofits who serve those in need. It is vital support for nonprofits.
A recent example of this support comes from T-Mobile. Tmobile recently awarded a $10,000 Difference Maker Award to CASA of Contra Costa County for our work with foster youth.
This funding will help support our CASA Volunteer Advocates and our vital programs such as therapy, reproductive health, tutoring, and juvenile justice. With the support of corporations like T-Mobile, we can continue to make a significant impact in the lives of foster youth in our community.
We can only serve the future by working together. With that, we are grateful to T-Mobile for their generosity and look forward to expanding our mission of advocating for abused and neglected children in Contra Costa County to help them create brighter lives.
Sincerely,
Ann Wrixon
Executive Director
CASA of Contra Costa County
About CASA of Contra Costa County
Each year, approximately 1,300 abused or neglected children and youth in Contra Costa County come under the court’s care because they are unable to live safely at home. Imagine what it would be like to be removed from your parents, not because of something you did, but because they cannot, or will not, take care of and protect you. Then into the lives of these children and youth come dozens of strangers: police, foster parents, social workers, judges, lawyers and more. For some, one of these may be a Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteer.
Because of the enormous number of cases filed in juvenile court and dwindling resources to adequately investigate cases, judges are often compelled to make permanency-planning decisions based on less than complete or objective information. This is where a CASA volunteer can and does make a difference.
CASA volunteers advocate one-on-one for abused and neglected children and youth in foster care to make sure they do not get lost in the over-burdened legal system or languish in an inappropriate placement. They are their voice in court and speak up for the child or youth’s best interests during the dependency process. Volunteers help reduce delays and continuances and stay with each case until it is closed and the child or youth is placed in a safe, permanent home. CASA volunteers visit weekly with the child or youth, and maintain ongoing communication with all parties involved in the case to best serve the child or youth’s interests. For the volunteer, this means a commitment of a minimum of one year and an average of 15-20 hours per month of service.
In addition to our services for abused and neglected children and youth, the National CASA Association works to provide community education and awareness concerning the issues of child abuse, neglect and child welfare policy. It is also committed to working towards public policies that promote child abuse prevention and address reforms in the juvenile dependency and foster care systems.
Mission
The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) provides programs to support abused and neglected children in foster care to help every child find a permanent home and complete their education.
In support of our mission, CASA of Contra Costa County is committed to:
- CASA volunteer program recruits, trains, and supports volunteers to be a voice for foster children during the court process.
- CASA therapy program works in partnership with A Home Within to provide teletherapy to foster youth throughout California.
- CASA tutoring program recruits, trains, and supports volunteers with educational backgrounds to provide tutoring services to our foster children.
- CASA juvenile justice program recruits, trains and supports volunteers to work with youth in the juvenile justice system (who are also foster youth) to ensure compliance with probation requirements and complete their education.
- CASA reproductive health program works in partnership with the Department
For more on CASA, visit their website.