After she retired from a career in education, Ginny Robinson realized she missed interacting with her students and young people.
“A friend who I admire a lot, Anna Jones, is a CASA volunteer and told me how she enjoyed volunteering,” Robinson said.
Robinson took a volunteer training class and got matched with her first child in 2024.
“It has been fun to spend time with my CASA kids and I like being a person they can rely on to advocate and speak for them,” she said.
CASA volunteers like Robinson are matched with abused and neglected children in the local family court system. Each volunteer visits their child monthly, gathers information about the child’s life, provides that information to the judge on the child’s case, and makes recommendations from a regular person’s perspective on what would help the child.
Robinson has advocated for three children so far, with support from her Woodford Volunteer Manager Heather Porter.
“Heather is just the best. She has been such a support and an encourager,” Robinson said. “I love that I can call her with questions and she readily gives informed and helpful suggestions. Heather going with me the first time I met my CASA children relieved my anxiety about introducing myself. I was also apprehensive about going to court, but she prepped me in advance and she’s always there in the courtroom with me.”
Porter nominated Robinson to be a CASA Volunteer of the Month across CASA of Lexington’s seven-county region because of how well she has worked with different parties on a difficult case.
“She is very on the ball and she sees the kids much more often than she has to,” Porter said. “She is also the best record-collector I’ve ever seen.”
Robinson said she chose to become a CASA volunteer because her Christian faith calls her to share her love and talents with others.
“Continuing to learn is important to me, and I have been exposed to so many new things through my volunteer training and cases,” she said. “I love meeting new people and have made valuable friendships – there are so many cool people who offer their time to CASA!”