Walton Development Presents $10,000 Challenge Grant to CASA, Asks Community To Donate

The Hays County Commissioners Court Tuesday was the site of an exciting step forward in the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) journey to fund a new building when Walton Development & Management presented CASA of Central Texas with a check for $10,000 as a challenge grant to the community. The money raised will be used to help the nonprofit organization’s capital campaign in building a Training & Support Center in Hays County.

CASA has been serving Central Texas for 30 years, training community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the court system. With CASA, a child gets more help while in the child protection system and is more likely to spend less time in foster care and less likely to be bounced from home to home. Children with CASA support are also more likely to do better in school.

“CASA holds a special place in our hearts,” Walton Development & Management General Manager Becky Collins said, “and we wholeheartedly support their mission to help advocate for children. We realize this could be a difficult time of year for supporters to donate to match this challenge grant, but the opportunity will be available into 2016.” Walton Development & Management is a real estate development and management company with a major presence in Central Texas.

“While this is a wonderful gift in and of itself, this is also a great opportunity for CASA donors to double the impact of their gifts,” said Norma Castilla-Blackwell, CASA’s Executive Director. “For every dollar donated, it will be matched, effectively raising $20,000 for our permanent home.” And, the community is already stepping up to help – within 24 hours of this gift, CASA had already received $3,500 in matching pledges toward the challenge grant.

Castilla-Blackwell noted that in 2015 more than 200 volunteers have advocated for more than 445 abused and neglected children, but that there are more than 350 traumatized children who do not have the voice a trained advocate can provide.

CASA provides free and flexible training and is currently accepting applications for January classes. To learn more about CASA and its capital campaign, visit www.casacentex.org or email info@casacentex.org.