New Job!!!

I have just been hired as a supervisor for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), and I don't think I could be more excited!! (I am NOT leaving Cornerstone!) I will be working full time at Cornerstone and then part-time (15-20 hours a week) at CASA. I know it sounds like a lot, but its actually less hours than when I worked for AIM and Cornerstone (I was working 30 ours a week at AIM), and I am VERY passionate about my work at CASA and it goes hand in hand with my passion at Cornerstone. I can't wait!!!

I actually applied for the job back in August when they were looking for a new supervisor because my supervisor was leaving. I was interviewed and the director told me that they already had someone in mind for the position they were hiring for, but that they would be hiring another supervisor within a month or so and they would like to hire me for that position. So, she told me that she would be in touch.

Over the next few months, the director stayed in close contact with me, constantly telling me that they did still want to hire me, but they had to wait for the finding to come in. (CASA is a non-profit organization). CASA gets about 1/3 of their budget from the Department of Human Services (they have a contract with DHS), but DHS was about 6 months behind in paying them. The other 2/3 of the budget comes from private donations and those were way down for the year. So, I was basically in a waiting game.

In January I once again talked to the director and she said she was hoping to have the money to hire me by April. However, about 5 days later I got another phone call asking me if I could start in February!! It turns out that one of the other supervisors was leaving CASA and they needed to replace him immediately. So, a week after I got the phone call, I started my new part time job!

To say that I am passionate about CASA would be a HUGE understatement, and the more involved I become, the more passionate I become. If you don't remember exactly what CASA is all about, you can refer to my first post about it here.

As a supervisor I will be overseeing volunteers who are working on cases. I will attend all their court hearings, help them write court reports and provide support, advice, and whatever else they may need in order to advocate for the kids they are working with. I currently have 14 cases with 13 volunteers and a total of 26 kids.

I am kinda jumping right into the deep end, but I have a lot of support (another supervisor, Cynthia, actually took over the work of the guy who left CASA and then I took over Cynthia's caseload. So, she is still around whenever I have questions!) and everyone seems to have a lot of confidence in me; I hope they're right!

I'm just getting started, but I am sure you will be hearing more about all of this soon. In the meantime, PLEASE be praying for the kids who are in foster care in Philadelphia. Just reading through the case files on my cases brought me to my knees, crying uncontrollably and pleading for God to move in each of their lives. The blinders are off my eyes and my heart is broken; now use me for your glory, Lord.