It’s only been a few months since Nannette Clark completed her training and became a volunteer for the 13th Judicial District South Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA.
But in that short time, she’s already had an impact on a child’s life.
Clark said she started her training in August, looking for a way to get involved in a community she was still learning. Clark and her husband moved to El Dorado from Houston in January when he began working for Murphy USA. The couple has small children and Clark said she has taken a step back from her career to be a stay-at-home-mom.
But with the children in school, Clark said she knew she could handle another role and wanted to find something that aligned with her career in social work.
“I knew I wanted to get back into the social work field, but not really full time since my kids are still young,” Clark said.
With her previous work for Texas Child Protective Services and a private foster home agency, Clark already had a good understanding of the role a CASA volunteer plays in a child’s life. But her background with foster children started even earlier.
“My parents took in foster care kids when I was a child,” Clark said, noting that that experience is what led to her interest in social work.
In her time with CASA, Clark has worked one case, which has already come to a resolution with the best possible ending - reunification.
“It was really rewarding,” Clark said.
After the holidays, she said, she’ll sign on to another case and begin working with a new child.
For anyone considering volunteering but hesitating because of the perceived time commitment or anything else, Clark said to simply “give it a try.”
“You have the opportunity to come into a child’s life,” she said. “Our role at CASA is to be their constant support system … we’re their cheerleader, their advocate. … If you have five to 10 hours a week, that’s all really it takes.
“It’s not a big commitment, but you’re impacting a child’s life.”
She said her experience with CASA so far has been rewarding in more than just one aspect. In addition to the experience of working with children through CASA, Clark said she has helped out in some of CASA’s other roles, including the CASA Make a Smile Happen Toy Drive that was held earlier this month.
“I was brought to tears a couple of times,” she said, noting that one woman had stopped in the rain just to put $60 in the fundraising bucket.
She also described an encounter with another woman who asked about what items were still needed before going into Walmart to try to purchase them. Clark said the woman returned, telling them that the items were still needed because Walmart was sold out; so she went to another store and purchased exactly what was needed, returning to donate the items to the toy drive.
“The community is so generous,” she said, adding that when living in a big city, similar actions happen but it’s harder to see or take note of. “When you’re in a smaller town and you see these familiar faces and you see these hearts just giving, it was just an incredible experience.”
And at the holidays, that generosity can mean even more.
“These children didn’t choose to be in this situation … it’s such a traumatic experience already,” Clark said, adding that to get something that they had asked for on Christmas morning can be an incredibly big deal. “They get one happy moment. … Maybe they’ve never had a really great Christmas and this is their first one. That is just heartwarming.”
Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].