Elicka Oberdick, Senior Vice President, Wealth Advisor | Wells Fargo Private Bank
Board Treasurer
Why are you involved in CASA?
I strongly believe that CASA is an AMAZING organization. As a mother, I value the work they do to protect children from falling through the cracks of the foster care system. I am passionate about their mission and want to do whatever I can to support their efforts to advocate for abused and neglected children who can’t speak for themselves.
What first caused you to get involved with CASA?
In 2012 I volunteered to mentor underage (12-17 years old) girls who were victims of trafficking through an organization called Streetlight USA based out of Arizona. In mentoring these girls and looking in their eyes, I saw how broken they were. How scared they were. How much anger they had in their hearts for what had been done to them. They were children that just wanted to have a normal life, play and grow up in a safe home. I had to do something to prevent this from happening to another child and wondered why more of these girls were not getting rescued. The answer was, no one knew to look for them. They were typically part of the foster care system and they fell through the cracks. I realized anyone of us could have been born into their circumstances, but just because I was blessed to not have been, doesn’t mean it is not my problem. I realized that there are unintended holes in the foster care system that exist and started to try to find out what I could do to help. That’s how I found CASA, which is an organization set up to do just that.
What keeps you coming back every month in helping CASA?
I know that if we don’t take care of these kids, someone may come in promising to take care of them with the wrong intentions. This can lead to things like trafficking, drugs, jail, abuse, etc. These kids deserve more than being products of the system. The case workers for these kids are angels, but they have high caseloads. CASA allows a trained volunteer to help one child (or sibling group), and act as one constant person they see caring about them and overseeing their journey.
What would you say to a potential supporter?
Once you get to know these abused and neglected children and know that there is something you can do to help protect them and in some instances, save their lives, this is a cause no one can resist joining. I’m a banker and when I give to an organization, I want to know how the dollars are being used. CASA’s model is this; the more money they receive, the more volunteers they can support and manage, the more children will be helped. Here are the numbers; currently, 500 children are waiting for an advocate. 1 paid CASA staff member can manage 25 volunteers, which can serve about 55 children. You can give these kids the gift and blessing of having a consistent adult in their lives that is looking out for them after they’ve dealt with a lot of uncertainty and fear. What’s not to love and feel compelled about doing that for a child in need.
Why do you think it's important for the local community of Southlake (where you reside) to support CASA and what can they do?
Tarrant County CASA needs our support, we need, as a community to stand behind their important and noble mission. The city of Dallas has raised close to 10 times the amount of money Tarrant County has for our kids and Dallas has gotten to the point where EVERY child in their district is being served! We, in Tarrant County, should be able to do the same, to make sure that every child in foster care has someone helping them, and we can only accomplish this if our entire community stands behind CASA and is committed to protecting these children.
We would love for many of you to also consider volunteering! I think it would be helpful to note for anyone thinking about volunteering, CASA is not a Boys and Girls club style mentorship program. The volunteer’s role is to check on the child with doctors, teachers, foster parents. You will have an incredible opportunity to talk to the child you are assigned to and be a major influencer in his/her life, while helping him/her understand what’s going on in their life and advocate for them in court when the judge is deciding what they need. It’s incredibly rewarding and you can directly see the impact your time has had in bettering the life of the child/siblings you serve.
As featured in Our Neighborhood Life Magazine (Timarron, Southlake Publication)
