Angel trees and toy drives to support CASA kids

With the holiday season approaching, multiple businesses in Ellis County will soon have angel trees and host toy drives to support more than 100 CASA children this Christmas.

“We just want to make sure the kids have a happy and bright Christmas,” executive director of CASA, Kim Garlitz, said. “We have a very robust group of supporters here in Ellis County, and we’re just constantly amazed every Christmas by the quality and the quantity of the toys that come back to us.”

Each angel tree will have between 20 and 40 tags that state the child’s age and includes about three wish list items, clothing and shoe sizes.

Participants are asked to bring the new, unwrapped gifts back to the angel tree no later than Dec. 9. CASA volunteers and staff will pick up all gifts from angel tree locations and begin sorting them.

For five days, CASA’s office transforms into Santa’s workshop, Garlitz said.

“We get about 2,500 toys in, and every single inch of our conference room is covered in toys and gift bags,” she said.

When sorting is complete, CASA volunteers bring the sacks to the foster parents or relatives for them to give the kids on Christmas day.

Each child receives a sack full of their wish list gifts, a new pair of shoes, a new set of clothes, a blanket, a pillowcase and stocking stuffers. Children staying with relatives and not a foster family are also given toiletries and food items for a holiday meal.

Some businesses will have gift card trees where participants can buy a gift card to a fast-food restaurant, Walmart, Target, Academy or other places. Most of these gift cards are given to teens, so they can pick out their own gifts. Some of the fast-food gift cards are saved for CASA volunteers to use when visiting their assigned child.

Other businesses will host toy drives with the items being used to fill a child’s Christmas bag or placed in their birthday closet. The birthday closet is always full of items to be given to CASA children, and CASA volunteers can “shop” from the toy items for their CASA child’s birthday.

“Every toy will have a home,” Garlitz said.

When a child in Ellis County is deemed unsafe in their home, they are removed from their parents and placed with a family member vetted by Child Protective Services or into foster care. Judge Jim Chapman will then assign a CASA volunteer to protect the best interests of the child and to advocate for them in the court system.

“We assign one case at a time to a volunteer, so they can really focus on those kids and build that relationship and rapport with them,” Garlitz said. “They’re the only people that aren’t paid in the room, and some of our older kids when they find out, they say, ‘What? They don’t pay you to come see me?’ ”

CASA volunteers spend time with the child at least once a month, getting to know them and learning what their future family looks like to them.

“Our volunteers work with a team of caseworks and attorneys to try to make sure all of the kid’s needs are addressed,” Garlitz said. “Our volunteers also make recommendations on where the child should end up permanently.”

CASA volunteers are community members who go through about 30 hours of special training, FBI background checks, national criminal checks, Department of Family and Protective Services checks, motor vehicle driving records, fingerprinting, ongoing training, and an interview with a CASA staff member.

CASA also pays for additional costs involved with the children, including medical items not covered by insurance, therapeutic horseback riding, summer camps, sports team equipment, trips to the zoo or museums and more.

Garlitz said any monetary donation CASA receives in the month of December will be used to fill the gift sacks unless donations are specified for something else.

Those interested in being involved with CASA’s angel tree and toy drive season can visit their partner organizations or donate online. Garlitz said they will also be posting an Amazon wish list on their Facebook for items like toiletries, clothes, stocking stuffers and more. Organizations interested in partnering with CASA can call the office at 972-937-1455 to see how they can be involved.

For more information or to donate, visit https://casaofelliscounty.org.

A growing list of organizations who are partnered with CASA this Christmas season is listed below:

Brown Street Church of Christ

City Real Estate

Danceworks

Dazzling Divas Boutique

DolChe Luna Salon

Eye Candy Salon

First Baptist Church Midlothian

First Baptist Church Waxahachie

First United Methodist Maypearl

National Charity League Southern Star Chapter

Oak Crest Baptist Church

Ovilla United Methodist Church

Stonegate Church

Tacos 4 Life Waxahachie

The Avenue Church

Ugly Heifer Grill

Waxahachie Junior Service League

Western Power Sports

Originally published November 21, 2022 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/arts_and_entertainment/angel-trees-and-toy-drives-to-support-casa-kids/article_47291a6c-69dd-11ed-826e-1fc0a9f269e1.html