Community Comes Together to Provide Christmas Gifts for Children

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Santa Barbara County ensures Christmas Wishes are fulfilled with the help of 18 businesses, nine community groups, three schools, and hundreds of individuals! 

“The way our community shows up for kids is amazing. Many of the donor groups we work with come back year after year to support our gift drive,” shared Kim Colby Davis, Executive Director of CASA of Santa Barbara County. “People go above and beyond anything we would ever ask of them to get just what the kids wished for. I cannot even express how touched we are by the thoughtfulness of each gift. It is inspiring to see that our community understands how important it is to give each child something they need or especially wish for at Christmas.”

Collecting the “wishes” of 518 kids is an effort on its own, which is only possible thanks to more than 159 CASA volunteers and our county social workers. Kids are encouraged to ask for exactly what they want – within a set budget, of course! This year’s wishes ranged from the “cool shoes everyone else has” to specific dolls, toy cars, clothing, warm jackets, 71 bicycles (with helmets) and much more.

“Christmas is a special time at CASA,” said Kira Cosio, CASA’s Community Engagement Director. “It is wonderful to see our community so involved. We do similar work all year round through the advocacy of our dedicated CASA volunteers, who make sure that kids have what they need to be safe and thrive in school and at home. With 56 children on our waiting list, we urgently need to find community volunteers to commit to be an advocate for a child.”

This year, CASA is serving approximately the same number of children as Christmas time last year. “I wish that we could share the joy we see on the faces of the children receiving their gifts or detailed stories of the difference our wish granters made in a child’s life.” Davis shared. “We must respect the dignity of each child and family, so we do not share those details, but we are so honored that the community trusts us to take care of them at Christmas and all year long. Our CASA Christmas wish is that more community members decide to become CASA volunteers, where they will see a child’s case through the journey of foster care to a safe home to grow up in.”

CASA would like to thank every donor who contributed to the success of the gift drive this year. While there are too many to list here, each gift drop off was shared on CASA’s social media pages.

CASA of Santa Barbara County is a top volunteer agency with over 250 local volunteers serving about 500 children each year. The Mission of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Santa Barbara County is to assure a safe, permanent, nurturing home for all abused and/or neglected children by providing a highly trained volunteer to advocate for them in the court system. Volunteers are urgently needed in Santa Maria right now and information on how to volunteer or support the CASA mission is available at www.sbcasa.org