Executive Director Jessica Sundland says the DeKalb County chapter of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is ready to make sure juvenile victims of abuse or neglect have an adult on their side when court decisions are made affecting their future living situations.  The CASA organization was founded in 1977 with the local chapter organized in 1993.  CASA has about 60 volunteers who service about 200 youth cases a year.  The organization has a 98% permanent placement rate as cases are closed.  Sundland explained that volunteers become the eyes and ears for a judge who rules on the youth’s permanent placement.  This means the volunteer regularly visits the youth, speaks to all parties involved in the youth’s life, works to bring stability and consistency into the youth’s life, and becomes their guardian voice in court.

 

Sundland says the organization is always in search of volunteer advocates because demand for services can be unpredictable.  She noted that last year they had 27 new cases in the first ten months of the year but then got 29 new cases in just in the month of October.  Candidates must be 24 years old; there are no specific educational requirements, but strong interpersonal skills are needed; and CASA does its own specialized training for new recruits which includes a recently started peer mentoring program along with continual staff support.  Sundland says advocates can expect to work 10 hours a month on their cases.  Interested individuals can apply online at https://casadekalb.org/volunteer-app/

 

Funding for CASA comes from a combination of grants, fundraisers, and donations according to Sundland.  Sundland invited Rotarians to take part in their June 6^th 5K “Color Run” and their August 8^th 50-Men Who Cook event.  Donations may be made through their website at https://casadekalb.org.

 

Sundland urged anyone observing signs of youth neglect or abuse to call a toll-free hotline:  1-800-25-abuse.

February 15, 1564 – Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer Galileo Galilei is born in Pisa, Italy.  He is often referred to as “the father of science.”

 

February 18, 1745 – Italian physicist and inventor of the first battery, Alessondro Volta, is born in Como, Italy.

 

February 18, 1892 – American business executive and politician Wendell Willkie is born in Elwood, Indiana.  He was the Republican nominee for President in 1940 waging an unsuccessful campaign in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s bid for an unprecedented third term as President.

 

February 19, 1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, the mathematician and astronomer who was first to  theorize that planets revolve around the sun, is born in Torun, Poland.

February 16, 1923 – English archaeologist Howard Carter enters the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen culminating a five-year search for the boy-king’s tomb.  The tomb’s interior treasures were untouched after more than 3,000 years including King Tut’s mummy, the most perfectly preserved ever discovered.

 

February 17, 1801 – Thomas Jefferson is elected President of the United States as the House of Representatives breaks an electoral college tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr.  Although  Jefferson and Burr were running as a formal ticket for President and Vice President for the popular vote, election law at the time gave two votes to each member of the electoral college with no distinction between offices.  Their party’s plan to have one electoral vote skip Burr apparently failed to account for a vote from the opposition party, an oversight later corrected by federal legislation.

 

February 19, 1878 – Prolific inventor and promoter Thomas Edison is granted a patent for his cylinder phonograph.

  

February 21, 1965 – African American nationalist and religious leader Malcom X is assassinated while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in New York.  This followed a philosophical split with the more radical Nation of Islam and his founding of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.  Three Nation of Islam members were eventually charged with his death (although later release of previously secret FBI documents showed only one person actually did the killing).