On Thursday, September 19, CASA held their Annual CASAblanca Gala! The Forty Fort Airport was transformed into Rick’s Café Américain. Over 400 people attended a night full of music, laughter, gaming tables, amazing refreshments, delicious cuisine and inspiring stories about the importance of CASA’s mission.

Sundance Vacations generously donated $3,500.00 as a Guardian Sponsor. This event brought business leaders, politicians, volunteers, donors, and friends together to support CASA’s mission, which is to provide a court appointed special advocate to each and every abused and neglected child in the Luzern County foster care system.

More about CASA

CASA is a nonprofit organization located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania and was established in 2013. They currently have over 1,000 CASA/GAL programs in forty-nine states. They dedicate themselves to help abused and neglected foster children. They recruit, train, and support community volunteers to serve as the voice of abused and neglected children in the Luzerne County court system. They’re there to ensure these children are safe, secure and given the opportunity to thrive.  Children who are assigned a CASA volunteer are half as likely to re-enter foster care and they perform better in school. Since 2013, 158 children in Luzerne County have been matched with a CASA volunteer.  There are currently more than 500 children in foster care in Luzerne County, and only 64 of those children have access to a volunteer advocate.

A CASA community volunteer is appointed by a judge, to represent the best interests of a neglected or abused child in court. They independently assess each foster child’s situation and they also dedicate themselves to learning everything they can about the child and their history. Using the information they obtain, they can make recommendations to the Luzerne County Dependency Judges. That will help the judge decide if and where they will be permanently placed or what services the child needs, whether that is an educational change, social, mental health, physical health or cultural. Their work is important and needed throughout our community because the children in foster care depend on these volunteers.

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Be sure to keep up with upcoming Sundance Vacations Events and Sundance Vacations Charities like CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocates!

View all charities Sundance Vacations Wilkes-Barre worked with here: Wilkes-Barre News, and make sure to keep up with all Events Sundance Vacations support!

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