Patty Overing named a CASA Volunteer of the Month

CASA Volunteer Patty Overing

After Patty Overing retired from her career in banking, she began putting more time into her hobbies and family. But she also wanted to do something else with her newly freed schedule.

“I was looking for something to do with my time volunteer-wise — a way to serve,” she said.

Overing had heard about Court-Appointed Special Advocates because her bank contributed to the United Way, which funded a CASA program. But she had not learned what CASA volunteers do.

Overing learned how CASA volunteers visit with children who are involved in family court cases, but are not tasked with escorting or overseeing the children. And she learned how CASA volunteers’ reports often reveal important information no one else in court knows and help change the course of the children’s cases.

So, she signed up, went through training and became a CASA volunteer. Today, she is one of CASA of Lexington’s longest-serving volunteers, having advocated for 12 children over the course of about five and a half years. She is also a CASA of Lexington Volunteer of the Month for May.

Overing’s Volunteer Manager Dennis Stutsman nominated her for Volunteer of the Month.

“Patty is always looking for the best ways to help meet the needs of her CASA kids,” Stutsman said. “She is especially good at working with caregivers to ratchet up their engagement, enriching the lives of the children they care for.”

Overing said she has seen firsthand how resilient children can be and how beneficial it is to them to have a CASA volunteer who brings positivity and hope.

“My time as a CASA volunteer has been varied and interesting,” she said. “It’s nice to try to develop that relationship with a child or children, to get them to trust you and open up. It’s nice to show them that you’re reliable — that month after month, I am going to show up and be there for them, even if they move.”

Overing said she still remembers the surprise on the face of one of her CASA children when he had been moved to a new home and she still showed up for a visit.

“It’s a needed and valuable contribution that pretty much anyone can make in the life of a child,” she said. “I can really give them something to look forward to with my visit each month.”