Retired Toyota employee making a difference as a CASA volunteer

CASA Volunteer of the Month Alan Pack

After retiring from a 33-year career at Toyota, Alan Pack knew how he wanted to use some of his new free time: He wanted to volunteer in a way that was structured and had a significant impact for good.

Social work interested Pack, but he would have to go back to college and complete another degree. Then, his niece suggested CASA.

“I investigated and realized this was what I wanted to do,” he said. “I love serving as a volunteer.”

CASA volunteers are regular people like Pack who advocate for abused and neglected children. Pack is matched with one child or sibling set at a time. He visits the child monthly, gathers information about their life, and shares what he learns with the judge and attorneys on the case. His outsider perspective can help the court make more informed decisions and get better outcomes for the children.

Pack has now been a CASA volunteer for almost three and half years and he is proving you don’t need a social work degree to help abused and neglected kids.

“Alan’s first case was a baby case, so he was this big man taking on the case of a little baby. And he did great!” said Roxana Del Campo, Pack’s Volunteer Manager in Scott County. “The mom and dad were going through a divorce and he was great at getting them to work together for the child.”

Del Campo said lawyers on that case requested that Pack be kept around longer because of how effective he was.

“I feel we give the judge a more comprehensive look at the child and how they are progressing or not progressing,” Pack said. “We look at all aspects of the child’s life and give a better ‘whole child’ view of the child’s world.”

In Scott County, there are an estimated 600 abused and neglected children who are eligible to have a CASA volunteer. But there are only enough CASA volunteers to serve about 12% of those children.

It takes about 5 to 10 hours a month to be a CASA volunteer, after completing an initial 30-hour training either in-person or online. Pack said he hopes more people will sign up for the training and become volunteers.

“It’s very rewarding work,” he said. “You get to really help a child have a voice they would otherwise not have. That is very satisfying and fills my heart with joy.”

To learn more about becoming a CASA volunteer, visit www.casaoflexington.org. Online training classes for new volunteers are beginning Oct. 1 and Oct. 20.