CASA of Lexington holds annual Angel Tree Kickoff event

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - CASA kicked off its annual Angel Tree event in lexington.

The wishes of 188 kids in Fayette County were hung on a Christmas tree in Lexington on Monday. Now, it’s up to all of us to help make those wishes come true.

Every year, CASA Angel Tree events provide hundreds of gifts for children in the local family court systems that are served by CASA of Lexington.

“The work we do at CASA can be hard,” said Melynda Jamison. “We deal with child fatalities, children being separated from their parents or from their siblings once they’re in this system, sexual abuse, physical abuse, trafficking, things that no one should ever have to see, but especially a child.”

A CASA (court-appointed special advocate) helps serve the children in these difficult situations.

Vice Mayor Dan Wu spoke at Monday’s event. He volunteers his time as a CASA.

“Seeing how tough these cases are and how tough these situations are very often, you realize there’s not an easy, immediate answer on how to solve this problem, and you realize how important this role is because I’m going to be there for my kid for as long as this case takes possibly longer after that and being part of their life,” said Vice Mayor Wu.

Monday’s event has been sponsored by McBrayer for 20 years. Its goal is to bring these children joy.

“We give them the opportunity to dream and wish big,” said Jamison.

On the tree hangs the children’s names, items they need and their wishes.

“We’ve literally had lists that said anything new because they’ve never had something that was new and just theirs,” said Jamison.

That’s not all that was hanging on the tree.

There are two other opportunities: outside of selecting a tree, you can make a tax-deductible gift. And we have ornaments that we can give you to give to your loved one to show that you’ve made a donation to CASA.

Those ornaments will be colored by CASA children.

“The third thing on the tree our dog bones, so we have the only certified courthouse facility dog in Kentucky, Matilda, who goes to court with children when they have to testify, and she has things from flea treatments to food to vet visits; those are also tax-deductible donations,” said Jamison.

If you would like to help out, you can call the CASA of Lexington office at 859-246-4313, and they will pair you with a child.

You can also purchase gifts from the Casa Angel Tree Wish List on Amazon.

Items are due on November 27. CASA of Lexington asks that you bring them back unwrapped. You can drop them off at CASA of Lexington’s office and McBrayer.

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