Kerr County Child Services Board (KCCSB) President and Rotary Club member Kellie Early describes the services provided by the KCCSB to the club.
The KCCB’s mission is to meet the critical needs of abused and neglected children through local education, collaboration, and provision of emergency resources.By building partnerships with community volunteers, local government, and other agencies KCCSB increases community awareness of child abuse and helps children grow to be healthy, productive adults.
KCCSB accomplishes its mission by:
1)Reimbursing CPS workers for expenses incurred on behalf of a child.
2)Working with relatives of children to get their license and/or home study so that a child can be placed in their home rather than foster care.
3)Encouraging and supporting foster kids who are graduating from high school by purchasing caps, gowns, invitations and other pertinent supplies.
4)Paying for summer camps, uniforms, fees for cheerleading or sports that relatives might not be able to afford.
5)Providing a number of other resources (via the CPS Rainbow Room) such as diapers, socks, underwear, lice kits, backpacks, blankets and toiletries, pack n’ plays, car seats, etc.
6)Hosting training sessions for over 90 community partners in providing “Community Based Care.”
7)Filling in any other gaps to aide CPS and other groups address the needs of children in our community.
What can Rotary do to help Abused and Neglected Children in Kerr County?
·Continue to support Breakfast with Santa
·Volunteer with one of our community partners
oCASA
oK-Star
oHill Country Crisis Council
oChildren’s Advocacy Place
oHill Country Youth Ranch
·Continue to donate so the board can continue its work
oKCCSB receives only a fraction of its budget from the Kerr County – the majority of funding is derived from generous donors like the Rotary Club.In fact, the club gave four thousand dollars to the KCCSB just earlier this year!
oKellie also wanted to give a special thanks to the Kerr County United Way and the Community Foundation for providing grant monies to fund their projects and daily operations.
Amy Hardin, Volunteer Services Coordinator for Hill Country CASA, informed the club about the organization's background, purpose and many successes here in our community.
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a national volunteer movement founded in 1977. Hill Country CASA is a member of the National and Texas CASA Associations. There are more than 1,000 CASA programs nationwide and 72 CASA programs in the state of Texas.
Hill Country CASA provides volunteers who passionately advocate for abused and neglected children.
When a child enters the foster care system because his or her home is no longer safe, a judge may appoint a committed volunteer to help them. That volunteer is called a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA.
CASA volunteers are screened and highly trained and then appointed by judges to represent and advocate for a child’s best interests in the child protection system. CASA volunteers are each assigned to help one child or set of siblings at a time, so they can focus on giving that child or sibling group the individualized advocacy and attention they need. CASA volunteers save taxpayers money and children’s futures by helping children find a safe, permanent homes as soon as possible.
CASA continues to provide valuable volunteer advocacy for every abused child in the Hill Country. CASA volunteers serve as the “eyes and ears” for the judge in child welfare cases. This includes researching each child’s situation and making objective recommendations to help them reclaim their childhoods from abuse and neglect. CASA volunteers are frequently the only stable presence in these children’s lives as they navigate the foster care system. These volunteers bring three critical qualities to their work: they focus on one case at a time; they bring a unique perspective to the court case; and their sole objective is representing the best interests of the child.
Hill Country CASA volunteers have enabled the organization to provide representation for 100% of all children in their service area – 100%!!There are currently over 80 volunteers working 83 cases – serving over 140 children in our community.Volunteers spend countless hours and travel thousands of miles to help children in need.The gig is not an easy one, but INCREDIBLY meaningful.If this is for you, volunteer today!
Clint Morris receives well deserved recognition for his service as the club's Program Chair. In typical Clint fashion, he redirected the praise to the members of the club that makes his job "easy" for him. We're grateful for your leadership Clint.
Club members David Rittenhouse and Delayne Sigerman read to elementary school students in CenterPoint ISD as part of the "Josh the Otter" water safety and literacy program. The program was a big hit and this really just marks the start of this great initiative. Way to go David & Delayne!!
This week we have the Schreiner University Shooting team that will be providing the program. They will give us insight into what it takes to be a Championship Collegiate Shooting Team.
We are winding down the Rotary year so over the next few weeks and getting ready for Charlie to take the helm! He's got some great ideas and plans. Please support him in the transition. We're working out the details of when this will actually take place. I'll be gone the first week in July with Cole in Atlanta where he'll be playing baseball so we will have the installation either the last week of June or the second week in July. Stay tuned for more on this!
I also wanted to give you an update on the meeting location: Your board of directors has unanimously voted to move our regular meetings to the Kroc Center starting the first meeting in June (June 5). The Inn of the Hills has served us well over the years. The waitstaff is top notch, but it's time to make a change. I have notified the Inn and out of respect for them, we've given them a month's notice.
After the meeting last week at the Kroc, we only had one suggestion which was to offer a choice of desserts. Jeff Harris, Jeff Wendling and I briefly chatted with the Captain and John Green, our liaison, and have given them this feedback. The Kroc has some features that we've been missing out on at the Inn. Their A/V system is top notch and has the ability to play videos with sound! The Kroc also provides a full time IT person for us that will be available during our meeting. In addition, he will help our speakers get set up and ready to go. They are eager to please us and have been very easy to work with.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get with one of your board members so we can address the situation. I anticipate that there may be a few bumps, but with the Kroc's team in place, I'm confident that we will be able to meet our needs.
Dates to remember:
CRUISE RAFFLE TICKETS - Wednesday is the last day to purchase. Remember if you buy and sell the winning ticket (meaning you sell it to yourself), you get 2 cruises! All proceeds go towards foundation and can count towards Paul Harris awards. Our club will also match up in points to help you get your next or first PHF award.
District Conference May 3 - 4, San Antonio. If you're interested in attending, please get with me asap!
May 8, Rotary Picnic - you will be getting a signup sheet this week from Kristy to RSVP. Please make sure you respond so we will know how much food to purchase. Satellite member, Justin Hamilton, will be our chief cook!
May 29th - Youth Citizenship Awards--This will be a great meeting. Mark your calendars.
If you're looking for volunteer opportunities over the next few weeks, get with Jeff Anderson (jeff@leadershipinc.us) if you can help present Citizenship awards or get with Paul Anderson (paul.anderson@cpa.com) if you're interested in reading to second and third grade elementary students our Josh the Otter book.