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Community Focus: Christmas decorations before Halloween is not all that bad

Volunteer with CASA

I generally shudder when I see the first Christmas decorations in stores. They seem to appear earlier every year. However, this year I am thankful for them. I have long held that we humans migrate as much as the Canada geese which make semi-annual treks across our Big Sky. The difference is that we migrate through time rather than space. I guess we’re hard wired to do so, with seasonal ebbs and flows.

The end of one year and the start of another is a powerful reminder that we ought to be thoughtful, consciously and conscientiously moving from one season — from one year — to the next.

For me, the early appearance of tinsel, trees and stockings is a not-so-gentle reminder to take stock of the current year, to wrap things up, and to lay foundations for the future which is promised so brightly in Nativity and New Year alike.

Has this year been all you wanted it to be? Have you ‘done yourself proud’?

Many of us start the year with plans to do something big, to give of ourselves … plans which often get lost in the busy-ness of our lives. If you find yourself at the end of the year with that promise unfulfilled, let the fake evergreens which have sprung up spur you to honor that promise.

There are many great causes out there. Find one. Give of yourself and make a difference in your world, in your community. There are myriad possibilities, and I want to present just one: Become a Court Appointed Special Advocate, a CASA.

You can become the voice for an abused and neglected child, a child who has been removed from their home because of threats caused by alcohol, drugs, and violence. A child whose Christmas will not be bright, who will be moved from house to house without really understanding why, who really just wants to be safe, stable, and loved.

CASA is beginning its last new Advocate Pre-Service training class of 2015 at the end of October. Training will run through November and wrap up just after Thanksgiving, with new Advocates sworn in before Christmas and getting their first cases before the New Year. CASA’s FLEX Learning system lasts 5 weeks, with 2-3 hours reading and online exercises accompanied by a face-to-face meeting each week.

Did you begin the year with hopes of making a difference in the world? If so, this is the time to join the Volunteers in our area who give of themselves to serve the most vulnerable children in our communities…to join us in saying, “I am for the child.” Now is the time to become a CASA.

For more information about CASA or to apply for the upcoming FLEX Learning course, please contact Mark Douglass at 265-6743 or [email protected].

(Mike Douglass is executive director of CASA of Hill County.)

 

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