Deerfield Church and CASA Lake County Team Up for a Charitable Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be hard for kids in foster care under the best of circumstances. During a pandemic, it can be even more difficult. To make sure local foster kids enjoy the holiday this year, members of North Suburban Church, in Deerfield, prepared 52 baskets full of traditional Thanksgiving foods and donated them to CASA Lake County for distribution to foster families in need. The baskets were then distributed by CASA volunteers to the families.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Lake County works to support and advocate in Lake County Juvenile Court for over 550 foster children in foster care. These children have been abused or severely neglected and are party to cases active in the juvenile court system. The work of CASA, based in Vernon Hills, depends on more than 300 local volunteers who are trained by the organization and certified by the court to advocate on behalf of the children.

"CASA's work has taken on renewed importance as the number of children in foster care here has soared by 30 percent in the last three years. The needs of those children have grown even more substantially during the pandemic crisis," said Terri Zenner Greenberg, CASA Lake County Executive Director.

More than 100 children are currently on a waiting list in need of a CASA volunteer to help them through difficult circumstances. Any adult interested in volunteering to help with the work, please contact Suzanne Cash at scash@casalakecounty.com. If you are interested in donating, please visit the organization's website at casalakecounty.com.