Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Page Eater’s



The Page Eater’s invites you to join our next book club meeting on February 1st at 6pm. We will be discussing the bestselling novel, Haunted by Choke Palahniuk.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is a novel made up of stories: Twenty-three of them, to be precise. Twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you’ll ever encounter—sometimes all at once. They are told by people who have answered an ad headlined “Writers’ Retreat: Abandon Your Life for Three Months,” and who are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions of “real life” that are keeping them from creating the masterpiece that is in them. But “here” turns out to be a cavernous and ornate old theater where they are utterly isolated from the outside world—and where heat and power and, most important, food are in increasingly short supply. And the more desperate the circumstances become, the more extreme the stories they tell—and the more devious their machinations become to make themselves the hero of the inevitable play/movie/nonfiction blockbuster that will surely be made from their plight.

Haunted is on one level a satire of reality television—The Real World meets Alive. It draws from a great literary tradition—The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, the English storytellers in the Villa Diodati who produced, among other works, Frankenstein—to tell an utterly contemporary tale of people desperate that their story be told at any cost. Appallingly entertaining, Haunted is Chuck Palahniuk at his finest—which means his most extreme and his most provocative.

Our meetings are held at Little Rock Main Library in the first floor of the West Room. For more information, please contact Priscilla Ybarra at pybarra@pulaskicountycasa.com. Make sure to check The Page Eaters out on Twitter, Facebook and Meetup.com.

Work of Heart Light of Hope Breakfast



CASA will be hosting a Light of Hope fundraiser on February 19th on the 30th floor
of the Regions building in downtown Little Rock. This event will feature Senator
Blanche Lincoln as the keynote speaker and promises to be an exciting morning,
dedicated to the work of CASA. The planning committee is working diligently to
ensure that the event will be a success. However, we need your help. We are
looking for table captains and sponsors for the event.

What we need:

• Table Captains
o Table captains have a relatively simple task: bring nine friends to breakfast.
The breakfast is free and parking at the Regions building is only two dollars.

• Sponsors ( all sponsors will recieve one seat to attend the breakfast)
o Presenting Sponsor - $1,500
 Benefits: Logo recognition on website and all printed event material, as
well as one full page ad in our monthly magazine.
o Food and Beverage Sponsor - $1000
 Benefits: Logo recognition on website and all printed event material, as
well as one full page ad in our monthly magazine.
o Venue Sponsor - $500
 Benefits: Logo recognition on website and all printed event material, as
well as one full page ad in our monthly magazine.
o Friends of CASA - $100
 Benefits: Logo recognition on website and all printed event material, as
well as name recognition in our monthly magazine.

Contact Marquita Rogers at 501-340-6778 for more information or at mrogers@pulaskicountycasa.com

Newest CASA Staff Megan Patterson



Hello everyone! My name is Megan Patterson. I am a student
at UALR and will be graduating this May with a Bachelor
of Arts in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology. I am
currently a work study in the Criminal Justice department at
the school. I grew up in the DC/VA area and I have been in
Arkansas for almost six years. I have a wonderful eighteen
month old son and I will be getting married this June. When
I’m not in school or working I love to spend time outside
with my family and watch football and soccer. I am a big
Green Bay Packers fan! I am also hoping that the US Men’s
National soccer team will do great in the World Cup 2010 in
South Africa.

I found out about CASA through the Criminal Justice Society
at UALR. I hope that by interning here I will gain great
experience with the court system and social work that will
help me pursue a career after I graduate. I am excited to take
advantage of every chance to interact with the CASA kids.
Thank you CASA for giving me this amazing opportunity..

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Internship Position Open


Pulaski County CASA is currently seeking a Program Development Intern. This position will provide the applicant with insight into the inner workings of developing, promoting and fundraising for a non-profit organization.

This is a non paid internship.

Applicants must be:
•Enrolled in a 2 or 4 year college/university or obtained a minimum of a
Bachelor’s degree
• At least 21 years of age
• Able to successfully complete a criminal background check
• Have a valid drivers license
• Committed to CASA’s goals and mission

Interns recieve the following formal trainings:
• Juvenile Law
• Abuse and Neglect
• Understanding Children
• Family Dynamics
• Substance Abuse
• Pulaski County Juvenile Court System
• Court Etiquette
• Grant Writing
• Networking
• and more.

Monday, January 4, 2010

The Adam J. Weissman Foundation Grant


Special thanks goes out to the Adam J. Weissman Foundation who awarded Pulaski County
CASA with a grant of $1,000. This grant will be a wonderful help in providing CASA children
with necessities they otherwise would have not had access to. With the help of this organization,
CASA will strive to purchase new clothes, toys and shoes for the children. By providing
these necessities, the kids can focus on much more important things, like their educations.
Through work such as CASA does, it is the little things that matter most. Much thanks and
gratitude goes out to the Weissman Foundation for their kind hearts and support.

Board Member Spotlight Shines on... The Erica Hughes


This month’s board member spotlight is ERICA HUGHES. Even though Erica has been with us only a short amount of time, she has jumped in with both feet, broken the surface and hasn’t looked back yet. She is a true champion for CASA. Even before Erica was voted onto the board she stepped up to help with decorating for the CASA Volunteer Banquet. She helped with our annual golf tournament, she decorated for National Adoption Day and even had time to make sandwiches. She pitched a proposal to her fellow Employees at Sysco Foods to help sponsor CASA. Sysco not only collected Christmas toys for our CASA kids and other foster children, but after January they are going to collect spare change from employees until June when they
will spend that spare change to buy needed school supplies for our annual school supply drive. Erica has brought a lot of energy and knowledge to our board. She has two daughters that she raises and is active in their school and their PTA’s. Erica has a unique bond with CASA because of her childhood and truly knows why we advocate for these children. She lives what she preaches and preaches CASA to everyone she comes in contact with. We are happy to have her as a part of Pulaski County CASA and I know we all look forward to working with her for years to come.