Meet Julia, a volunteer advocate with CASA of Galveston County!
Find out why she chose to become an advocate on this Motivation Monday!
I have been an advocate for about 18 months and I have to say that there couldn’t be a more fulfilling position to have. Having grown up in a difficult environment, being an advocate seemed like the best way to serve and make a difference because I can relate to children who need a little extra love. In my current case, I have a three year old who cried if I even looked at her on my first visit but now, she spends most of my monthly visits cuddled up in my lap. That first visit was so hard because I was there to love her but she wasn’t able to trust. But, just by being a consistent, caring person in her life we have developed a sweet relationship based on love and trust and she greets me with a smile and hug every time – it’s the best! So, don’t give up or let those initial overwhelming feelings take over when you get your first CASA appointment because “love always wins.”
I am blessed to be self employed as a Realtor so I can schedule work around CASA appointments and volunteering to take my dog, Annie, to visit Alzheimer’s patients once a month. I also serve as a Discipleship Counselor at Exchanged Life Ministries where I have had the opportunity to talk with adults who grew up in the foster care system and that made me even more interested in serving as a CASA. At ELM we use a book that changed my life called “Lifetime Guarantee” which talks about messages we receive as children and how we live those out in our lives as adults. My favorite quote in that book is “the problem is never the problem.”
In my spare time, I visit with my son, Bryan, in Houston, Annie and I go for walks, and occasionally I get to make pottery and sew.