"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

Tomorrow evening I will begin my first four-hour training out of thirty six total legal training hours with CASA New Orleans to become a court appointed advocate for children in our city–children who find themselves involved in the court system. The children with whom I will work are victims of child abuse and neglect, and many of them are in foster care. I am committing a year of my time to become a “voice in court” in order to find SAFE, loving, and hopefully permanent homes for them. While I have volunteered in the past to serve in other capacities, I wanted to volunteer doing something like this for a long time. Next to my love for children is of course my ongoing commitment to make a lasting contribution to society, and what a better way than to make sure these children in our city are given every possible chance and opportunity to grow in safe, stable, and loving environments. I understand that not every child will have that entirely but I am going to labor relentlessly and do the best I can to help that become a reality for many of them. I think about my beautiful students and how much I care about their future. I have listened to some of their stories and many of them are fortunate to have made it to college. Children deserve to have safe and loving homes and families to support and prepare them to meet life’s future challenges. I know that I could become too emotionally invested and involved doing something like this, so I need to keep the right balance, especially since I have so many other responsibilities. Fortunately, one of my friends is volunteering with me and we are pledging to be there for each other as we are for the children.