CASA gala nets $200,000 for local kids in need

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"It's A Small World" gala co-chairs Tiffany Sitarz and Kit DeWitt, as well as CASA Executive Director Gloria Bunce, pose with the giving tree of donations at CASA's annual event on Saturday. | Sarah Vetter~For Sun-Times media

Updated: May 8, 2011 4:46AM

It was a special Disney moment that took place Saturday night at the Royal Fox Country Club in St. Charles. It happened during CASA Kane County’s Children’s Champion Celebration, “It’s A Small World.” Mary Ann Lindquist had just won first prize in the grand raffle, a magical trip for four to Disney World. Making her trip to the podium as hundreds of guests looked on, Lindquist told the crowd she really didn’t need the trip. “Let’s start the bidding,” she said. She ended up raising $5,000 more for the local nonprofit organization.

CASA Kane County recruits, trains and case manages community volunteers who serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates, to support the best interests of abused or neglected children within the juvenile court system. In Kane County, there are around 250 volunteers logging more than 15,000 hours of service each year to act as the eyes and ears of 500 local children.

“We call our CASA volunteers everyday heroes because of the extraordinary commitment they make to our community’s most vulnerable children, and the extraordinary results that are created because of their involvement,” said CASA Executive Director Gloria Bunce.

The evening, which featured cocktails and live music, a sumptuous dinner, silent and live auctions and grand raffle, focused on raising awareness and funds to ensure this worthy group can continue to fulfill its mission. Bunce and event co-chairs Kit DeWitt and Tiffany Sitarz reported selling 350 tickets to the gala, which, along with money raised through the silent auctions, raffle and giving tree donations, brought in a total of about $200,000.

“This night has far exceeded our expectations,” Bunce said. During the gala, John and Kristin Chapski, of Geneva, were honored as the Children’s Champion Award recipients for their ongoing support of CASA. In her speech, Kristin quoted her 10-year-old daughter, who told her mom, “Sometimes before I go to sleep, I think about how lucky I am to have parents who love me.”

The gala started as a relatively small event that has grown into the group’s major fundraiser of the year, according to Ed Werneke, chairman of CASA’s Board of Directors.

“Our mission, however, remains the same, to raise money for CASA, and to speak out for the children who don’t have a voice of their own,” Werneke said.

The Rev. Jan Little, a CASA board member, spoke of the very special relationship that exists between the CASA mentors and the children in the system.

“The most powerful thing is that the children come to trust and depend on their CASA volunteer,” Little said.

A testament to Little’s statement is CASA volunteer Jeanie Fisk, who has worked with all five children in one family for more than 10 years.

“I have been the only constant adult in their lives through most of their growing up,” Fisk said. The importance of this really hit her recently, she says, when one of the children, now 15, asked her to tell him what he was like when he was little and to tell him some stories about his childhood. Fisk realized that she was the carrier of this boy’s history, something she had never considered.

“We can never anticipate the impact we make on the lives of the children we serve,” Fisk said.