Volunteering and Giving Back

By Stanley Doniger, Court House.
The Grim Reaper knows me well! He has visited me often in an attempt to inject his message. This is a personal story of drug addiction and dysfunctional children in the family and what happens and what we can do about it.
Over the years, my child suffered the viciousness of drug addiction. Treatment for drug addiction is expensive, limited in availability and outcomes are never known. At one point I desperately needed help. I was working and had benefits and still chaos prevailed. I still could not provide the help my child needed. In order to get services for my child, it would have been necessary to give up custody to the state. On top of that, as all too often in a drug-affected family, my other child began to act out. The local authorities suggested placement in an institution for incorrigible children.
I am happy to report favorable outcomes for my children, but I needed a lot of help. Volunteers did the job. Fellow parents who suffered previously stepped up to help. Members of my support group stepped up to help. As a result, I became an advocate for my children. I volunteered in a number of organizations including the local Mental Health Association. The state never took my children away from me. In that respect I was very, very fortunate.
I am now retired and my children are alive and living life on life’s terms. I have never forgotten those who reached out to me in a time of need. I am financially OK and now have the time and good health to continue to give back and volunteer.
I have become a volunteer at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). I speak, as a trained volunteer, on behalf of abused and neglected children in the foster care system, dedicated to ensuring those children are placed in safe permanent homes or reunited with their family when deemed by the court to be appropriate. The children have me as a dedicated court-appointed advocate working to provide hope, healing and a safe, permanent home.
I have applied for and hope to be appointed as a court-supervised volunteer. Court-appointed legal guardians make decisions for incapacitated people about personal and medical care, meals, transportation, and even where a person lives. Guardians control assets, manage budgets, pay debts, and make all financial and investment decisions for the people they assist. I will, when appointed, supplement limited government resources. As a volunteer, I will gather data and review reports and files ensuring that each guardianship case is handled the way it should be. Reports are then submitted to the court for review and further action.
My challenge to readers, especially the senior, retired community, is to step up, volunteer, help the less fortunate and above all, GIVE BACK.
The most precious gift we have is time to volunteer. For information on volunteer opportunities in Cape May and Atlantic counties contact Julie Bellezza, CASA at 609-601-7900 email, julie@AtlanticCapeCASA.org. and, for the court appointed guardian Jeanne Seymour @ 609-594-3278, email Jeanne.seymour@judiciary.state.nj.us.
Make this part of your New Year’s resolution if not sooner. My wife is also volunteering. Make it a family thing.