Meet Board Member Nichole Masters-Henry

Why CASA?
Since I was a teenager I’ve always had a deep burden on my heart for abused and neglected children. I saw the hurt and long lasting impact trauma could have on their lives if there wasn’t someone to be there countering all the negative, telling them they are important, loved, strong, and worth it.  CASA does exactly that. The children we serve have been traumatized but the care, compassion, and advocacy they receive from their CASA Advocate counters all of that negative.  Advocates shine a bright light of love into a world that seems dark and lonely. I chose CASA because CASA chooses the children.

What first caused you to get involved with CASA?The mission.

What keeps you coming back every month in helping CASA? The children.

What would you say to a potential supporter?
We all bear the responsibility of caring for the children in our community. When a child is abused, neglected we all must respond to protect them, provide safety, and make sure they have every opportunity for a safe and healthy childhood. Your financial support make that happen. Your support ensures that CASA can provide Advocates for every abused and neglected child in our community so they never again experience that hurt and can instead experience love, support, and safety- what every child deserves. 

Why do you think it’s important for your local community to support CASA and what they do?
The children of our community is all of our responsibility to care for, encourage, protect, and prepare for their future.  They are the future of our community. 

Do you want to share some encouraging words to our volunteers?
Thank you for partnering with us to make sure the voices of our children in Tarrant County are heard. You make a difference. You make sure a child knows they are valued, loved, and not alone.

Meet Board Member Mary Barkley

Why CASA?

My family has long supported CASA’s mission to help protect the most vulnerable children in our community. It does important work that no other group can do and does it with volunteers which makes it truly unique. 
 

What first caused you to get involved with CASA?

I have witnessed the help that CASA provides to children and families in need and understand directly the good that it does.  
 

What Keeps you coming back every month in helping CASA?

Every month, at minimum, I hear the reports from our Executive Director about the profound differences CASA makes in children’s lives and the lives of their parents. Whether it is helping a child work through a school issue, ensuring a child does not miss a sports game or practice, helping to find a relative who can care for a child while the parents get help, helping foster parents locate special resources, or ultimately assisting in adoption, CASAs make a difference in the lives of our children. And improving our children’s lives improves our community.

What would you say to a potential supporter?

The work that CASA does directly impacts and improves our local community. We see the fruits of CASA’s labor every month with a positive outcome or improvement for a child. If you want to support an organization which greatly impacts our local community, this is the one to support. 

Why do you think it’s important for your local community to support CASA and what they do?

Unfortunately, we live in a world where child abuse and neglect is increasing.  And as our population increases, so does child abuse. The earlier we can stop and prevent child abuse, the better outcomes there are for the children to grow up to be productive members of our community.  The work CASA does benefit the whole community. 

Do you want to share some encouraging words to our volunteers?

Thank you so much for your continued service during this pandemic. Now, more than ever, you are a special link helping our most vulnerable children get what they need.  

Do you want to share some encouraging words to our volunteers?

Thank you so much for your continued service during this pandemic. Now, more than ever, you are a special link helping our most vulnerable children get what they need. 

Meet Dwayne Smith, Board President

Why CASA?

I joined CASA because I know that one person can make a lifelong difference to a child. Many of the kids in the foster care system don’t have someone to tell them that they have a voice, that they’re capable of achieving a better life than the one they currently have, or simply that they matter. CASA volunteers speak up for these children when no one else can or will.

What first caused you to get involved with CASA?

Our law firm specializes in the practice of family law in Tarrant County, and I’ve seen through my practice far too many children get lost in the foster-care system. As a lawyer, my role as an advocate for my client is always clear. Sometimes that leads to the “best” outcome for the child, and sometimes it doesn’t. I appreciate that CASA is able to provide children with an unbiased volunteer who only has that child’s interests in mind. A child’s CASA volunteer is often the only person whose sole task it is to speak up for what truly is in the child’s best interest.

What keeps you coming back every month in helping CASA?

Aside from getting to work with our wonderful staff and team of advocates, I keep coming back to CASA every month because it’s the right thing to do. My family is blessed in so many ways, and I believe it’s my duty to help children who don’t currently have everything that they need to enjoy their childhood and to prepare for life as an adult.

What would you say to a potential supporter?

There’s no such thing as helping too little. Every minute of work, every dollar, and every connection in our community helps improve children’s lives.

Why do you think it’s important for your local community to support CASA and why they do?

Children are our future. The children that CASA serves will be our future community leaders, business owners, and employees, and they are and always will be our neighbors.

Do you want to share some encouraging words to our volunteers?

This is a trying time for our community, and you all are on the front lines of helping our kids through it. Thank you for your time and dedication to keeping safe the most vulnerable among us.