News from CASA

Friends,

Yearends often cause reflections and renewed commitments for individuals and organizations alike.  It should not come as a shock to anyone that 2020 was a year unlike any other for CASA of Lancaster County.  As an organization we had lofty goals for this year; continued expansion of our program, further investment in our staff and advocates to strengthen our mission, diversification of funding sources, and the establishment of new collaborations.

It would be easy to reflect on our unmet goals with frustration and disappointment, but rather I find myself heartened by you.  Your support enabled us to craft new goals to carry us through this year and into the next.  These goals included ensuring that our mission was upheld through uncertain times. Our CASAs met their CASA children virtually or masked and at a distance. They sent crafts, letters, and postcards, maintaining and building relationships with their youth and offering much needed consistency in an ever-shifting landscape. We created a communication strategy to increase our community presence and transparency; we launched a new website and created The Advocate sent to your inbox two times a week. We found new ways to support our veteran CASA advocates as well as our newly appointed CASA advocates; the newly instituted CASA Buddy program engages our experienced CASAs to provide support to our new CASAs.  

On behalf of our staff and Board of Directors, I want to express my gratitude to you.  You have enabled us to look collectively to the new year with hope; your time, your attention, your energy, your donations, and your passion have enabled CASA of Lancaster County to adapt and to achieve our new goals, and look to 2021 with an optimism that has seemed elusive for months.  Most importantly, you have enabled our CASAs to continue their advocacy and, in turn, to provide hope for the youth in your community who need it most.

Thank you.  I wish you and yours good health and a new year filled with the hope you have provided to us.

Warmly,
Jessica Laspino
Executive Director