Meet Holly and Gavin M., 4 1/2-year CASA Volunteers
Hometown – Holly is from San Antonio and Gavin is from Gatesville, TX.
Family – Holly and Gavin have a 2 ½-year-old son.
Education – Holly graduated from Austin College and Gavin from The University of Texas.
Career – Gavin is a legislative affairs consultant and Holly is a realtor.
Free time – Holly is in The Junior League of Austin, and the two of them have a barbeque team that competes in the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo raising money for scholarship funds.
Family legacy – Holly’s parents were CASA volunteers in San Antonio so she’s grown up with this organization and she introduced Gavin to CASA. They work on cases together as a couple.
Working with CASA - They have worked with 7 children over their 2 cases with CASA.
How they decided on CASA – “We were looking for a volunteer role that was really tangible, where every time you leave you feel like you’ve done something. We’re all involved in great things, but sometimes you leave thinking, did I really make a difference today? Am I using my volunteer hours to the best of my abilities? With CASA from the beginning we’ve always felt that every minute spent is valuable and productive.”
What they get out of volunteering – “We’re happy to be a part of CASA. We give a lot and we get a lot. It makes us feel so good to be involved. I’m not a crier and I bawled like a baby when our oldest CASA child got adopted. I don’t know of any other place where you can have that experience. Sort of like that Starfish story, ‘I saved that one,’ and that’s how we feel. Each kid we work with, we made a difference to them, and when they’re better we go and make a difference for the next one."
How working as a couple enhances their volunteer experience - "Our friends that we’ve been able to recruit, most of them have been as couples and I think it never enters people’s minds. I would say that 90% of volunteer activities really seem to be separate, the husband is involved in this and the wife is involved with this. And I think it plays a big role, especially for working professionals, that they can do it together because time together is limited, and of course sometimes people are overwhelmed with the idea of 'What if I can't make a court date,' or 'What if I can’t make a visit?' Well, number one, you have a supervisor back up for that situation, but if there are two of you, at least for our friends, it’s like, 'Oh I can do this.' And if you sit down and look at what the requirements are and the fact that there’s a team doing it together it makes a big difference. And I don’t think it enters people’s mind that this is a possibility. And I think it makes for a good CASA too. I think the organization of CASA allowing couples to work together makes for good CASA volunteers because they have the ability to bounce things off of one another and talk about issues they wouldn’t have thought about on their own. I know we do."