Gift wraps up campaign for child advocate center.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

It was a rare laid-back day at the CASA office when a longtime booster of the program for abused children in foster care showed up this week, sat down and said, "I think I can make your holidays a lot more joyful."

He wasn't kidding.

The check he wrote for $40,000 wrapped up a two-year campaign to raise more than $364,000 to pay off the mortgage on a renovated 1911 farmhouse-turned-office and new 2,000-square-foot training center for the Court Appointed Special Advocates.

While the gift tops a long list of heartfelt donations, it made a deep impression on the staff by arriving face-to-face, CASA Executive Director Megan Friese said.

"He just handed me a check," she said.

But it wasn't a complete surprise. The donor quietly had told Friese awhile back that he would drop in sometime, and she knew he was good for his word.

So, for the past year, Friese shifted her focus from fundraising back to the agency's primary mission: recruiting and training adults willing to commit 12 hours a month for two years to become the voice of a child in state foster care, advising a Juvenile Court judge, ensuring the state child protection system is doing its job for the child.

There is always a need for another advocate. CASA has 81 volunteers and the vast majority of the more than 1,000 Lane County children in foster care go without one, Friese said. The number of children in foster care in Lane County has doubled since Friese joined CASA in 2000.

The lack of CASA support can be tragic, as it was for 5-year-old Lacey Folenius - a Cottage Grove girl who was beaten to death by her father's girlfriend two years ago.

Lacey had been on a long waiting list for an advocate and would finally have had one if she had lived four days longer, Friese said.

But recruiting efforts are bearing fruit, especially following the agency's recent push to attract male volunteers. The next training class of 31 has 20 men in it, Friese said.

The new focus on recruiting men showed Friese and other CASA staff members how men differ from women volunteers.

Men, she said, want to know how their efforts will make a difference, how they can investigate cases. They want more about the facts, less about the emotion involved, Friese said.

It's not a hard sell: kids with a CASA move through the legal system faster, are less likely to bounce among foster homes, are more likely to be adopted, and have parents who ultimately get more help and are more successful, Friese said.

All those new volunteers add cost to the program - $1,000 per year for training and supervision for each one.

CASA recently got a boost in that account by another supporter who offered to match the first 15 donations of $1,000 for each of the next two years, Friese noted.

With the big new recruiting class and the new training funds, CASA is gearing up for a big new year.

The paid-off mortgage is all the sweeter because it gives the CASA staff a home in a rural setting close to the city at 174 Deadmond Ferry Road in Springfield.

"Even though we are dealing with something in your worst nightmare, we can look out on this orchard and see that the world is good," Friese said. "It's beautiful."