Dan Cummins announces fourth annual donation of $100,000 to CASA at Bourbon County CASA Angel Tree lighting

A crowd of more than 60 people gathered at Dan Cummins of Paris Tuesday morning to kick off the holiday season by lighting the CASA Angel Tree and providing gifts for abused and neglected children.

And for the fourth year in a row, Josh Cummins announced that his family’s dealership would be donating $100,000 to provide CASA volunteers — funds raised by taking a small amount from every purchase of a new vehicle through Dan Cummins.

“CASA is one of the greatest causes that we have,” Josh Cummins said. “It’s something that’s a fabric of this company.”

The gift represents roughly the cost of providing a year of advocacy services to 100 children in central Kentucky.

This was the eighth year for the CASA Angel Tree program in Bourbon County. The community provided gifts for 384 children over the first seven years, and 43 more children were on this year’s tree. Children on the tree have open family court cases and are served by CASA volunteers, who visit them regularly and advocate for their best interests.

"We are so excited to be here today to light the CASA angel tree and bring some much-needed joy and happiness to children who have suffered more in their few short years than many of us will in our entire lifetimes,” said Melynda Jamison, Executive Director of Bourbon County’s CASA program.

People chose children’s names from the tree and received their wish lists so they could go shopping for gifts for them. Participants will bring the gifts back to CASA’s Bourbon County office or the Dan Cummins dealership, and CASA volunteers will then deliver them to the children’s caretakers in time to be wrapped for Christmas or any other holiday being celebrated in the home.

Bourbon County Family Court Judge Joe Fooks also spoke at the event, which was also attended by Bourbon County Judge-Executive Mike Williams, Paris Mayor John Plummer, Paris City Manager Jamie Miller and Paris City Clerk and Treasurer Stephanie Settles.

Fooks said he is proud of how involved the Bourbon County community is in supporting CASA services, which help him get better outcomes for kids in family court.

“You don’t have great organizations without a great community,” Fooks said. “And I think that’s a reflection of our community.”

Jamison said there are not currently enough CASA volunteers for all the children who could benefit from having one.

“If you have 5-10 hours a month to volunteer and a heart for helping children, we need you to show up for these kids,” she said.

The next in-person training class for new CASA volunteers begins Jan. 9 and a full schedule is available at www.casaoflexington.org/training. Online training classes are available, as well.

For more information about the CASA Angel Tree program, visit www.casaoflexington.org/angeltree.