Fillmore County CASA is participating in the statewide Nebraska CASA event: Chalk it up for CASA!

Join us for “Chalk it Up for CASA”, A Street Chalk Art Competition!

WHEN?       Sept. 6^th through the 20^th, 2021

WHERE?    Anywhere in Nebraska

WHY?          To get the word out about CASA’s advocacy for kids and our need for more volunteers

Submission:    A photo of the art (preferably with the artist) submitted by 5 pm central time on Sept. 20, 2021. We ask all artists to work with their local CASA program who will submit entries to Nebraska CASA.

Winners:    Announced Friday, Sept. 24^th

Prizes:        $500 Grand Prize

                      $250 Second Place

                      $100 Third Place

                      $  50  Best Children’s Piece

                      $  50 Best Family Piece

                      $  50 People’s Choice Award

Official Rules of the Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest – “Chalk it Up for CASA”

Everyone is welcome to apply to participate in the chalk art contest. There is no cost to submit an entry into the contest.

Judging will be based on:

• Originality/Creativity
• Interpretation and Execution of CASA Mission and the need for more volunteers
• Overall Design

Chalk is provided for all artists by Fillmore County CASA.

Artists of all ages welcome and families can work together with this project.

Questions- call Deb Mohlman at 402 759-4975 or send email to director@fillmorecasa.org of the name of your artist, date, time, and place, so deb can meet you there and take a picture of your work to send to Nebraska CASA for final judging. 

CASA of South Central and Fillmore County CASA held a CASA Day April 9th, 2021 in order to help recognize CASA Volunteers and Child Abuse Prevention Month.

CASA volunteers are well trained court appointed special advocates for youth who are victims of abuse and neglect.  CASA volunteers communicate with the courts, legal staff, teachers, guardians, and foster parents and visit their child regularly.  CASA volunteers make recommendations to the court on behalf of the child’s needs and is the voice for the child.

Currently, Fillmore county CASA serves twelve children and two are on the waiting list for a CASA.  In addition, CASA serves eleven youth in Nuckolls and Clay counties.  Five of the eleven youth have a CASA assigned and the others are on the waiting list.

Fillmore County CASA would like to train more volunteers to help compensate for children that still need a CASA.  To begin the application process, call up to the CASA office to request an application to be sent to you.  The telephone number for Fillmore County CASA is 402-759-4975.

The volunteer is required to complete 30 hours of pre-service training in addition to having criminal background checks done and submit three references.  There is also 12 hours of ongoing training to complete each year.  A CASA volunteer needs to be reliable and ready to commit to their case an average of 4-6 hours a month.

Fillmore County CASA has an Advisory Board that oversees the CASA program, along with CASA of South Central.  The following Board members include; Frank Heinisch as Chairman, Patty Roper, Lynn Mussman, and RuAnn Root.  Board members meet quarterly with the CASA Coordinator.

On April 9th, 2021, Fillmore County CASA staff and board members, County court officials including Fillmore, Clay, and Nuckolls counties, office staff, and Child Protection Workers with Health and Human Services, participated in CASA Day, along with CASA of South Central, by wearing blue CASA t-shirts to help raise awareness and to show their support for CASA volunteers.

Fillmore County CASA staff appreciate CASA volunteers and all they do to advocate for the children assigned to them.

CASA day on April 9th, showed an abundant amount of support for volunteers who work with children who are victims of abuse and neglect.  CASA is fortunate to be a part of a vary caring and supportive community.

Some pictures of volunteers and court offices that celebrated CASA day to show their support include:

In order from left to right: Cindy Carrigan with CASA Volunteer Supervisor Deb Mohlman, Loren Eichelberger CASA Volunteer, Julie Bergen Clay County Court, Lisa Hendrickson CASA Volunteer, Frank Heinisch CASA Board Chairman, Jill Cunningham and Ginny Conway Fillmore County Attorneys Office, Lynn Mussman CASA Board Member and Valuable CASA Volunteer, Brad Kawlkarf Guardian in Litem for CASA youth, Nuckolls County Court Staff, Pat Sudrla CASA Volunteer, Kathy Peppard

Board member Jeannette Stengel tended the CASA booth at the 2016 Rural Living Expo in Geneva on March 19.

Jeannette Stengel

Fillmore County CASA recently sponsored the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Sunday, December 6 at the Geneva Rialto II Theater. CASA provided admission fees, popcorn and a small soda for everyone attending the movie.

CASA also provided popcorn and soda for the movie “Moratorium” on December 23, sponsored by the Fillmore County Coalition.

The ultimate goal of these sponsorships is to introduce CASA to everyone in Fillmore County who is unaware of the CASA program with the intention of recruiting more volunteers.

The Fillmore County CASA program has just been awarded re-certification by the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association. This certification is awarded every 5 years. It recognizes that Fillmore County CASA is in compliance with National CASA’s high standards for quality child advocacy.

According to Michael Piraino, CEO of the National CASA Association, “The National CASA quality assurance process is very rigorous and reflects our commitment to ensure every child we serve has the most powerful volunteer advocate working on their behalf. This certification says that Fillmore County CASA has demonstrated to a a strong capacity to provide excellent services to the abused and neglected children within their community.”

Currently there are 13 children in Fillmore County who were removed from their home due to abuse or neglect. Ten of those children have a CASA volunteer advocate. If you are interested in becoming a VASA volunteer, please contact director Deborah Mohlman at (402) 759-4975.

Several CASA directors from all over Nebraska attended a valuable training session in Lexington, NE, November 19-21. This training was designed to help directors learn new techniques and tools to aid in instructing CASA volunteers. The training class was titled “Fostering Futures”.

Jeannette Stengel helped out at the CASA booth on November 5th.

CASA directors from several central Nebraska counties were sworn in after several weeks of training. Shown here are (names …)

The Fillmore County CASA Advisory Board is pleased to announce its new director, Deborah Mohlman.