Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

FROM STAFF REPORTS

The third annual CASA Silent Auction will begin on Monday, Nov. 17, at noon and end on Saturday, Nov. 22, at noon. The website is Casasilentauction.com. Everyone is invited to participate.

Each year, the event has quietly raised $12,000-$15,000 for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Shelby County.

The featured item is a four-bedroom condominium overlooking the white sandy beaches of Orange Beach. It has a hot tub and grill on the deck, two pools, an exercise room and even a lazy river. It is close to all the stores and restaurants Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and Pensacola have to offer.

Lake house weekends and packages to Amelia Island, Sandestin, Gulf Shores, Louisville, Ky, Florence, Montgomery, Auburn, Hilton Head, Grand Hotel, various theatre tickets, a fine dining package to Bellini’s, a golf package, a boat rental at the beach, and so much more will be up for auction. It will all be for a worthy cause and 100 percent of the funds raised will stay in Shelby County.

CASA is a non-profit organization that recruits and trains volunteers to go through the court process with abused and neglected children. CASA also offers free parenting classes and supervised visits for children who might not get them otherwise.

CASA’s services are offered at the Patricia M. Smith CASA House in Columbiana, named after its founder and former Shelby County juvenile judge.

CASA volunteers are the “eyes and ears” of the court, said Beth Chapman, executive director.

“They can go into the homes of these children; interview concerned parties and go places and do things the judge cannot do, then provide the judge with information,” Chapman said.

Chapman shared that CASA volunteers advocate for the child they represent and see that their best interests are represented in and out of the courtroom. CASA volunteers are a child’s “voice” in court.

Judge Erin Welborn often says her decisions are only as good as the information she receives about each case. CASA volunteers provide that information and, in the process, save the court system and DHR hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Those who are interested in learning more about becoming a CASA volunteer may visit Casaofshelbycounty.org. Those who are interested in learning more about the silent auction may visit Casasilentauction.com between Nov. 17 and 22.