Tiny Casa for CASA
by Leigh Davis
A tiny house – a GIANT Cause
With the recent craze toward tiny houses and eco-friendly living, CASA for Children – Texarkana sought to join in on the movement and bring a tiny house to our local area!
Texarkana College and CASA for Children collaborated to freshen up this year’s version of Operation Playhouse and shift to a more family style tiny house.
Texarkana College Construction Technology Program built a small, environmentally friendly living space that will be raffled off in support of much needed funding for the CASA for Children program. CASA’s 8’ X 20’ roadworthy tiny house on wheels is completely mobile and can transport you to destinations of your wildest dreams, or maybe to just one favorite woodsy or lakeside spot. The tiny house theme turns CASA’s “playhouse” event into a more family friendly event, bridging the services CASA provides to our local abused children and their families.
CASA for Children provides hope, healing and justice to more than 1,000 local children annually through three programs, the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteer program, The Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center (TCAC) and the Family Matters child visitation and exchange center.
CASA Volunteers are appointed by Juvenile Court Judges and help children who are removed from their homes as a result of physical or sexual abuse, and who are placed in foster care. As court appointed advocates, volunteers speak up for the best interest of these children to ensure that community services are focused on their needs and that help and healing are priorities. CASA’s mission is to aid children in recovery from the child abuse and work to find safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible.
Unlike any other volunteer opportunity, CASA empowers everyday people to serve as officers of the court and work on behalf of a foster child. Because of their important position in the court system, CASA volunteers can make a lifelong difference in the life of a child they represent and stop the cycle of abuse and neglect for generations to come.
In their 25th year of serving children, CASA has taken strides toward positioning their program as the leader in child advocacy, and attributes much of their success to the local CASA staff, board members, volunteers, donors, and community supporters. Over the past 25 years, the power of community has been harnessed to improve outcomes for abused and neglected children.
