Finishing out a worthwhile tour
Local CASA director prepares to step down from post
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Monday, November 19, 2007 10:16 AM PST
| |
| Myrna Andersen, outgoing director for CASA, shows some of the jewelry the organization now has available for sale to raise money. |
ONTARIO — Myrna Andersen’s last task as Malheur County CASA Director — Court Appointed Special Advocates — involved a move.
Anderson directed the fourth move for the agency — to the west end of the Presbyterian Community Care Center — as she reflected on her 11 years at the helm of the local advocate program.
Andersen conceded it was a time for change, but also admitted the switch will not be easy.
“Eleven years is a long time,” Andersen said. “This is such a very, very important program.”
CASA volunteers are trained to represent what they determine are the best interests of abused or neglected children in court.
“This is the fourth move since I started,” Andersen said, but it is one that had her excited.
The new office provides the local CASA with two offices for administration, plus an area for board meetings and training for volunteers.
“We still don’t have enough volunteers,” Andersen said. “We have 21 children without a volunteer.”
Sixty new children were added to the CASA caseload this year, she said, bringing the number of children being served this year to 139, with 100 currently on the caseload.
“That’s a lot of children with 14 volunteers,” Andersen said. “It is a lot of work.”
A late starter in college, Andersen said she went in three spurts, eventually obtaining an associate’s degree from Treasure Valley Community College and a masters from Eastern Oregon University in liberal studies, with an emphasis in psychology and business. Andersen was still working toward her bachelor’s when she began working with CASA, first as a volunteer coordinator.
Before coming to CASA, Andersen worked in medical records at PCCC and then as an office manager for a doctor, all experiences that have helped her at CASA. It was when the doctor was going into semi-retirement that she saw an ad for a position with CASA, and that is what she wanted to do, she said.
“It’s very fulfilling,” she said, and beyond the 31 hours of training, being a volunteer does not take a lot of time.
“We’re the eyes and ears for the court, the mouth for the child and the pusher for the parents,” Andersen said.
