Making the Road A Little Easier For Others Less Fortunate
By Lisa Morgan
Everybody’s on the road to somewhere. And let’s face it; some roads, are just plain tougher than others. If we are really honest, if it wasn’t for moments of grace and help, none of us would be where we are today. On Saturday, September 21st at the Date Shed in Indio, local original country band, R Buckle Road and friends will be doing what they can to help smooth out the road for those who face a tougher journey than most. As one of R Buckle Road’s singer/songwriters, I would like to personally invite you to join me for some fun, good music, and a chance to make the world a little better for others.
The non-profit organizations that will benefit from this event are C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children in the foster care system, American Red Cross – Desert to Sea Region, and House of Hope Women’s Recovery home. Here is a little bit about the incredible services you will be helping to provide through your participation:
C.A.S.A. Court Appointed Special Advocates:
The silence is overwhelming. The little girl, probably no more than 3 years old doesn’t bother to cry out anymore. There’s nobody there to listen. A boy, beaten by a Mom’s boyfriend, doesn’t know how to ask for help. If you saw these children on the street, you’d scoop them up and dry their eyes. There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for them. Right now, they are alone. These are just two of the nearly 4,000 children caught in the Riverside County court system right now, who have no one to speak for them. They haven’t done anything wrong, but they have been abused, neglected or abandoned by parents they trusted. Now they are living in the frightening adult world of judges and lawyers and words they cannot possibly understand. They only want to go home. But home may not be safe, and they are too young to make decisions or care for themselves.
They have landed in court alone. Most of these children will not return to their parents. They are more likely than other children to face unemployment, homelessness and incarceration as adults.
Our mission is to speak up for them. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Riverside County promotes and supports quality volunteer representation for each child to secure a safe, permanent and nurturing home. We are diligent advocates for the services needed to help each child become a healthy and productive adult; able to break the chain of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
A Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer is a trained citizen who is selected by a judge to represent the best interests of a child in court. No prior courtroom experience is required.
Children helped by CASA volunteers include those for whom home placement is being determined in juvenile court. Most of these children have been living lives of abuse and neglect. These are children whose lives you can help improve. After a mandatory background check, volunteers undergo a thorough training course conducted by CASA for Riverside County, Inc.
Our mission is to speak for the best interest of abused, neglected and abandoned children in the courts of Riverside County. We promote and support quality volunteer representation for each child to secure a safe, permanent and nurturing home. We are diligent advocates for the services needed to help each child become healthy and productive adults, able to break the chain of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
The American Red Cross – Desert to Sea Region:
As a volunteer for the American Red Cross, I cannot say enough about how overwhelmingly my life is blessed in return for every hour I have been able to give this organization. The American Red Cross of Riverside County is one of Southern California’s leading non-profit agencies. We provide disaster response; health, safety and aquatics classes; the Lifeline program for independent seniors; youth service programs as well as educational and informational presentations to thousands of residents and business each year not to mention support services to our armed forces and their families.
The American Red Cross empowers ordinary people to perform extraordinary acts in emergency situations. They train. They mobilize. They connect donors and volunteers to those in urgent need of a helping hand. Whether it is a hurricane or a heart attack; a call for blood or a call for help, the American Red Cross is there. The Riverside County Chapter is dedicated to providing our community with the response necessary to meet the most demanding needs. We serve the entire County of Riverside, a population of 2.2 million residents across 7,208 square miles.
One fact that people do not realize, is that when we have a national disaster, donations that are given in response must stay in that area. So if you have donated to Katrina, Sandy or for the recent relief efforts for flood victims in Colorado, those dollars stay in those communities. It is our intention, at the R Buckle Road Relief Concert, to donate a portion of the proceeds to our LOCAL American Red Cross. We all know, as much as we don’t like to think about it, that our area is at risk to one day be affected severely by our nearby fault line. Your donations at this event will go to help ready our own community to meet the needs that we face right here, every day and in the future.
House of Hope Women’s Recovery Home:
Addiction is a KILLER. Women are a huge part of addiction’s deadly statistic. The local Soroptimist clubs have been supporting a home in Desert Hot Springs to help women find their way out of the prison of addiction and into productive lives as employable women, mothers and daughters. I, myself, am a result of their investment. Just a little over two years ago, I found the help and tools I needed to build a life that had all but flat-lined. As an uninsured, single adult woman, I didn’t have the resources to seek treatment at the more affluent recovery centers that our celebrities seem to frequent. But they did refer me to House of Hope. Those 45 days gave me the opportunity to heal and grow and become equipped, like I had never been before, to live a life not only sober, but healthy in mind, body and spirit.
For many women, their addictions land them in jail. They lost custody of children, and destroyed relationships with spouses, parents, siblings and friends. When these women were released, their substance abuse disorders had to be addressed. With no government assistance, the ten local Soroptimist clubs raised sufficient funds to establish and begin to operate the first recovery home for women in September 1981. This recovery home is based on a 12-Step treatment program. A 4-bedroom house was purchased in Desert Hot Springs where the program is delivered in a residential, family-style environment to a maximum of six recovery clients. The ten Soroptimist clubs named this non-profit facility the “House of Hope.” SHOH has helped thousands of women through a comprehensive and effective social model program offering housing, companionship and guidance, therapeutic activities, and a structured daily routine that enables them to establish and maintain sober and healthy lives, including mine.
So please, join me for a fun night of music and giving on Saturday, September 21st from 8 pm until the cows come home!
www.casariversidecounty.org
www.facebook.com/CASAforRiversideCounty
http://www.redcross.org/ca/riverside/about-us
