The holiday season inspires many to help out charitable causes, but for Katie Casey, a senior at Richmond Hill High School, giving back is simply something she does year-round.
Casey, a Girl Scout and an active member of her local 4-H program, delivers scrapbook kits for children and young people in foster care through CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).
Founded in 1977, CASA is a non-profit volunteer program that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for abused or neglected children. Advocates are volunteers from the community who complete training provided by their state.
The idea stemmed from Casey’s childhood; growing up in southeastern Camden County, her mother and grandmother ran a daycare for children, where most were in foster care.
“My daughter grew up in a daycare where everybody else was in foster care, so she saw the impact it had on kids,” explained Ashley Casey, Katie’s mother.
“They would get switched from foster care to foster care, but they would stay in the same daycare. She [Katie] would see the kids coming to school, asking ‘Why isn’t she my mommy anymore, why isn’t he my brother anymore?’” In her first year of high school, as part of her Silver Award project for Girl Scouts, Casey decided to build scrapbook kits to donate to CASA for children in foster care, as a way to help kids document their stories and feel more emotionally tethered to their surroundings.
As a young person herself, Casey believes that mental health can be overlooked in children and teens, particularly those in the foster care system.
“A lot of times, the kids come from really traumatic backgrounds, and…hopefully [scrapbooking] can help them have an outlet for whatever they’re going through,” Casey explained. “Scrapbooking was always in my family, and it’s helped me a lot as well.”
Casey’s scrapbooking project has since grown to reach foster care children in six different counties — including Chatham — but typical fundraising efforts (bake sales, car washes) weren’t enough to cover the costs anymore.
So to help raise funds for the scrapbooking kits, which include stickers, coloring utensils, and plenty of paper, Casey and her mom turned to Funds2Orgs, a shoe drive fundraising company that pays individuals and small groups money for collecting shoes, while donating said shoes to developing countries (like Haiti) to help support local economies abroad at the same time.
“Last year, I made roughly $500, and I was able to use that money towards my project,” said Casey, with local schools, churches, and neighbors pitching in with donated footwear.
And as part of her 4-H “Leadership in Action” final project, Casey is also in the middle of directing a short film for CASA portraying the struggles of children and teens in foster care.
The production is entirely student-run, with Casey’s friends and classmates joining in to help film and act out the script, which is a fictionalized account based on true stories of children in foster care.
Casey believes that her time with both Girl Scouts and the 4-H program have instilled in her the importance of helping those in need.
“I’ve developed a mindset that I want people to be the best that they can [be], and I want to help people and help as many people as I can,” said Casey.
To donate shoes to support Katie Casey’s scrapbooking project, visit 22 Park Commerce Way, Savannah, Georgia. A box will be set up with a poster right above it next to Dr. Eric Hartman’s dental office, according to Ashley Casey. The donation drive runs through January 17th.