Volunteer Spotlight February 2019
VirginiaBeach CASA • February 5, 2019
Cindy Caravas, Fall Class 2012
After a tragic car accident took her parents, Cindy was raised in Takoma Park, Maryland, (just outside of Washington, D.C.) by her maternal aunt and uncle. After high school, Cindy attended and graduated from Gordon College outside of Boston with a degree in Social Work. This quickly lead to work as a child abuse social worker with DHS in Massachusetts for three years but, after visiting her biological sister and her family in Virginia Beach, Cindy headed south for warmer weather!
Once in Virginia Beach, she worked as a preschool teacher and a hospital social worker before earning her Masters degree in Counseling and Guidance from Old Dominion University. Cindy was among the first elementary school guidance counselors hired in the state of Virginia and loved working with that population.
Cindy is married to her sweetheart of a husband, Jerry, and they have two sons and a daughter. After her youngest child became school age, Cindy began looking for opportunities to volunteer. She was particularly looking for an opportunity to serve disenfranchised and hurting children and their families. Once she learned about CASA, it felt like a perfect fit.
Cindy has been through many various trainings in her working career but feels as if the initial CASA training (as well as subsequent training) was so well done that it could give anyone, no matter their professional background, the skills and confidence needed to be a productive and valuable volunteer.
Cindy's biggest piece of advice would be to develop a relationship with your Advocate Manager and lean on them for wisdom and support. The second piece of advice is to come up with an organizational system that works for you so notes from home visits and conversations with professionals are readily available when going to write a court report.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the information coming at you from numerous directions about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We certainly don’t want to add to that overwhelming feeling. But, we do want to provide you with Virginia Beach CASA’s proactive measures to ensure safety for our staff, volunteers, and the children we serve. Please realize decisions are happening quickly due to this ever-changing situation. Our CASA team is doing the best we can to address concerns and to continue to serve our community's most vulnerable children who, now more than ever, need to know that we are there for them. As of Friday March 13th, all staff are working from home with full capabilities. If you need to reach us, please email us at info@virginiabeachcasa.org or call 757.385.5616. CASA volunteers have been encouraged to continue “meeting” with their CASA kids, virtually. This may entail communicating through email, FaceTime, Skype, etc. Many of our events have been postponed or cancelled. Click here for more details. For more details and the latest information, visit our COVID-19 Response page HERE.
Savannah is currently the Regional Director of Gather Hampton Roads, the newest co-working space in the region (since January 2019). Previous to that, she served as the Development Director of JDRF International’s Hampton Roads Chapter. A graduate of James Madison University, she has worked in non-profit for over 5 years and prior to that in marketing and retail management.
Virginia Beach CASA welcomes new Office Volunteer, Jessica Eaton. Jessica is a Virginia Beach native and recent graduate of Old Dominion University, with a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice. Jessica currently works for Old Dominion University’s Information Technology Services at the ODU Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, assisting students with all their computer needs. In her spare time, she enjoys trips to the beach, playing with her dog Fry, going on hikes, and taking care of her succulent collection. Jessica is very excited and grateful to be given the opportunity to work with CASA and later hopes to obtain a career in the criminal justice field in Hampton Roads. We are grateful to have Jessica as a member of the team!
Meet Jill Stahre (pictured above, left): Jill was born in Pottstown, PA and raised in Boyertown, PA and Charleston, SC. In the mid-90's, Jill's ex-husband's Naval career brought them to the area. Although they moved around a bit after, in 2005 Jill ultimately decided to return to Virginia Beach to raise her family. She is the proud mom of two daughters and pup. Ginger Grace is a 5 year old, 12 lb miniature poodle, Melissa (her eldest) is a Virginia Beach Teacher's Assistant who is married and mom to two sons, and Sara (her youngest) is a Contract Negotiator in DC. who is married to a DC Metro Homicide Detective. As a military spouse, Jill picked up and moved every 6 months to 3 years for the first 18 years of her husband’s career. They often built a new home at the new duty station and her “job” at the time was to select the lot, house style, colors (inside & out), etc all in 1 house-hunting weekend. Jill did that 5 times! Some people would find that stressful; but Jill found she loved it! A few years ago, JJ Garofalo (VB CASA Board Member), asked Jill and a few other's from the office if they were available to work the registration table at the CASA Annual event (CASA Cabana at the Hilton). This experience helped Jill become involved with CASA. From there, the CASA team recruited Jill (and Sahara) to help with the theme and decor for CASA's Annual Event. Jill finds it best to always start with a theme. That drives the decorations and fantasy for the night. In Jill's opinion, it’s all about giving the attendees the experience that they are living the theme for the magical hours between 7:00 & midnight! In Jill's words, "I am so impressed by the CASA volunteers - they are very special people - I could not do the tireless work they do. But what I can do is create an experience that entices people to open their wallets and fill the buckets that make it possible." We are elated to announce that Jill will serve as the Event Committee Chair for the 2020 Annual Event! Jill has already hit the ground running! Stay tuned as we will be unveiling the event theme and location soon. Meet Sahara Sears (pictured above, right): Sahara is from Tampa, Florida and currently resides in Virginia Beach with her husband Mike, who just recently retired from the Navy. The pair have two teenagers , Lake 16 and Savannah 14. Their family moved to Virginia Beach when Mike got orders to relocate to Dam Neck. Upon relocating to Virginia Beach, Sahara was introduced to Virginia Beach CASA through her job at Legal Resources. As a major supporter of Virginia Beach CASA, Legal Resources invited Sahara to attend CASA's annual event. When asked to help with the Annual Event Committee, Sahara knew she could help the most through the decor committee. When envisioning event decor, Sahara admits to Pinterest and extensive Google searches along with keeping in mind the event theme and venue. The hope is to use the space in a way in that minimizes spending while maximizing effect. In her estimation, "hosting the annual event at the Cavalier has fit seamlessly with the Roaring 20s theme from last year and the CASAblanca theme for this year. This year we’re excited to transform the look of the Ballroom to look completely different from last year." CASA Kudos to Jill and Sahara dedicating their time, talent and treasure to Virginia Beach CASA, making a unique impact in the lives of the children we serve.
Tami Kamarek joins us on a part-time basis here at Virginia Beach CASA as a Program Assistant to primarily help manage our CASA Volunteer recruitment process. Her background and experience in corporate Human Resources and Recruiting for the last 20+ years will translate nicely to our organization as she works with our Volunteer CASA members during the recruitment process. Most recently Tami has been part-time with Electronic Systems Inc. for the last 8 years as a Recruiter, while she also stayed home with her two children. Sophia is 11 years old and Liam is 8 years old and now that they are both in school full days, she is very excited to contribute some of her time to our organization. Tami has been a Friends of CASA volunteer for 2 years.
Olivia Chzasz Bagwell is a Norfolk native. Olivia attended The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her Bachelor's Degree in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology. In her spare time, Olivia likes to spend time with family…spending most of her time with her niece and two nephews, playing the role of “favorite aunt!” Olivia is a current CASA volunteer with the Portsmouth CASA program and looks forward to working with Virginia Beach CASA on the operational side so she can continuing touching the lives of child victims of abuse and neglect.
Megan Gillispie comes to the Virginia Beach CASA team from the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut where she worked as a Project Coordinator working to implement multiple trauma focused evidence based practices in children's mental health clinics across the state of CT. A native of the Hampton Roads area, Megan grew up and went to school in Norfolk, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from Old Dominion University. She served as the Director of the Norfolk CASA program until 2012 when she moved to Richmond, VA to pursue a Master of Social Work Administration, Policy, and Program Planning degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. Megan brings 10 years of experience in the child welfare and children's mental health field, with particular focus on trauma informed care, care coordination, and leadership development. Despite her efforts to migrate from her Hampton Roads roots, Megan has found her way back to the area and is humbled to be joining Virginia Beach CASA as an Advocate Manager. Megan believes that all children deserve to have someone fiercely devoted to ensuring their success in life and as such, has worked hard throughout her career to align the work she has done to that mission. Outside of the office, you can find Megan boating with her husband in the summer, spending time with her friends, family, and 2 dogs, and volunteering for Comfort Zone Camp as a bereavement counselor for children.
Current CASA volunteer, Christina Sims, was elected by the Virginia Beach CASA Board of Directors to serve as the CASA volunteer representative on the board. This board position is a non-voting position, but is vital to providing the CASA volunteer perspective at the board level. Christina Sims was born in Chesapeake, VA and has lived in the Hampton Roads region for over 30 years. She is the proud mother of two boys. She shows her family Rottweilers and has a variety of rescue pets including tortoises, snakes, sugar gliders, cats, birds and fish. She raised and trained world-class horses, showing both in the United States and Germany. Christina has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and has established several small businesses. She was instrumental in building two multi-million dollar private businesses in Virginia Beach. Over time her passion to help animals and people inspired her to pursue a place in the veterinary community. She gained experience in the veterinary field by working at several local clinics as a Veterinary Assistant. She has paved a remarkable path for veterinary technicians as she promoted from assistant, to senior technician to a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM) in less than five years at Beach Pet Hospital. Christina has been a CASA volunteer since November 2015. Since that time, she has served on 3 cases. She has also volunteered helping at CASA events and soliciting sponsors to support the events. Welcome Aboard Christina!
A graduate of the spring 2016 class, Gail Huber is accustomed to volunteering her time for kids in need. Hailing from Iowa and having landed in Virginia Beach due to her husband Vern's career with the Navy, she has four children (all but one live in the local area) and three grandchildren. Gail spent most of her career as a special education teacher in the VBPS. While she was busy raising her children and pursuing a teaching career, she also volunteered with a local nonprofit organization that awards scholarships to children who lost a parent due to a military aircraft accident. Now retired and with an empty nest, Gail decided to look for new volunteer opportunities. She knew that whatever she did, she wanted it to have something to do with helping children. Gail learned about VB CASA through an ad in the Beacon, attended an informational session to learn more, and decided this was exactly what she was looking for. She is proud to say she is now on her second CASA family! To date, she has helped five children as they navigate the complicated maze of court proceedings, foster care and a sense of displacement. Gail's biggest advice to CASA Volunteers - rely on your Advocate Manager. The wealth of knowledge they have to offer is a bit awe-inspiring to Gail. In all her volunteer and work experience, she has never found herself in an environment where so much support is available. She also advises volunteers to quickly figure out their own best way to organize all the information they will gather on each case. For her, noting in the contact log the date of every call or visit and also taking extensive notes have been an enormous help. After every home visit or every call with a provider, she immediately jots down her notes (she even keeps a notepad in her car). Fun fact: She is already on her seventh notebook for her second case! One thing that Gail believes is important to remember is that, “while you may feel frustrated at times, everyone—therapists, the GAL, social workers, the court, etc.—is truly working with the best interests of the child in mind."
