CASA: One Person Can Make a Difference
By: Liz Gonzales
Updated: February 20, 2013
Family is a luxury some children may never have.
But thanks to CASA, they are not alone.
"We're like the parent that they never had," says Marquis Robertson.
Many of these children are surrounded by people that are paid to be in their lives and having someone there just for them, is life changing.
"You as a volunteer can say 'nobody is paying me to be here.' They'll say, 'well why are you here?' Because I care about you," says Robertson.
After some time, trust is established and that is priceless.
"Then they start telling you the truth. What's really in their hearts. I mean they're not going to give you this stuff until they trust you," says Robertson.
But the road to trust is not always easy.
"What I thought was going to be the hardest for me was that I would get so emotionally attached. But it can't be about me," says Royce Daugherty.
At the CASA offices here in Brownwood there's about 31 volunteers that take care of about 200 children every year.
In the state of Texas around 230 die every single year from abuse or neglect. About 200 of them are under the age of five.
"Well it's a frightening number. It's almost like you can't wrap your head around that," says Daugherty.
But it only take one person to change that frightening number.
"I don't care what the number is, one is too many. And boy if I can do anything to save that one, it's all worthwhile," says Gayland Daugherty.
Thanks to volunteers just like them, family has a whole new meaning.
