Deerfield Church and CASA Lake County Team Up for Charitable Thanksgiving

To make sure Lake County foster kids, as well as others in need, enjoy Thanksgiving this year, members of North Suburban Church got to work on "Project Share." At the Deerfield church they collected traditional Thanksgiving foods and packed up 1,344 baskets to share with 11 charitable organizations. Fifty-four of the baskets were donated to CASA Lake County for distribution to 107 CASA foster children and their families. CASA volunteers delivered the baskets in time for the holiday.

CASA Lake County works to support and advocate in Lake County Juvenile Court for over 600 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 depends on more than 300 local volunteers, Court Appointed Specical Advoates, 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 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 40 children are currently on a waiting list in need of a CASA volunteer to help them through difficult circumstances. Dedicated adults of all backgrounds are encouraged to join and help with the work. In particular, more multilingual and multicultural volunteers are needed to better serve the local community.

Anyone interested in volunteering, please contact Lori Petersen at lpetersen@casalakecounty.com or apply on the website: www.casalakecounty.com. Donations are welcome through the website as well.