This week, we caught up with Deena Gage, State Director for the Kansas CASA Association! We’ll find out about the work CASA is doing in the state, and talk about the moments in the lives of volunteers that make this important work so rewarding.
TRANSCRIPT:
Jeff: Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast.
We’re here to talk about marketing and business leadership. We frequently bring nonprofit leadership voices to the table here, and we’re doing that today with a very special guest.
CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, and they’re the ones who volunteer to be that champion in the lives of youth in our court system who are abused or neglected to make sure that those youth have a voice. CASA’s been around for 35 years in Kansas, and I’d like to bring in State Director for the Kansas CASA Association, Deena Gage, to the podcast to learn more about the work they do.
Jeff: Deena, welcome to the program.
Deena: Thank you. It’s so great to be here.
Jeff: We’re happy to have you here. I wanted to start out and just kind of have you give an overview of the work that CASA does. What does CASA do?
Deena: CASA advocates for children in foster care who have experienced abuse or neglect. They meet all of the adults in the child’s life—whether that be the foster family, the biological family, medical professionals, educators—so they can learn the child’s situation and what their needs are while they’re in custody of the state.
It’s really beneficial for the child because the advocate can be that one constant in their life during a very traumatic time.
These are community volunteers. They go through training with us—pre-service training—and learn how to be there for the child, gather information, and help benefit the child the most.
Jeff: That’s a hefty thing. Is that the biggest need that you have as an organization? If we had to boil it down, what is the biggest need?
Deena: We really have two needs and they go hand in hand: volunteers and funding.
Volunteers are a huge need. Without volunteers, we can’t advocate for children because they’re the ones doing the work. We also have standards that limit how many cases a volunteer can take, so the more volunteers we have, the more children we can serve.
But volunteers are supervised by staff members, and there are also restrictions on how many volunteers staff can oversee. So we need funding to hire staff in order to support more volunteers—which allows us to serve more children. It’s a whole circle.
Jeff: We worked on a project together—EAG helped build a commercial for CASA that featured Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson. Can you walk us through that campaign and the vision for it?
Deena: Yes. We wanted to try something different. We didn’t really have digital assets we could utilize to share our story, and explaining what we do isn’t always easy.
Avery Johnson has a huge following in Kansas, and K-State football has a huge following too. We were hoping to reach a broader audience—people across the state who maybe didn’t know about CASA.
We used the video primarily for social media through Avery’s presence, and it’s also on our YouTube channel. The goal was to reach people we hadn’t reached before.
He has followers from teenagers all the way up to retired—so it’s broad.
I have to admit I became a big Avery Johnson fan. I’m not really a K-State fan, but Avery was amazing to work with. He was great with the boys in the video. They were nervous—being on video and in front of a D1 football player—and he made them feel comfortable. Very kind and genuine.
Jeff: Shout out to Avery. Great job all the way around.
Since volunteerism is such a need—what does it take to be that champion? What makes someone a good fit to volunteer?
Deena: Someone who wants to give back to their community, has a soft spot for children, wants to help kids succeed, and has 10 to 12 hours per month. That’s all it takes.
Jeff: 10 to 12 hours a month.
Deena: Yes. If you’ve got a heart to help children and give back, consider CASA.
Jeff: It can be heavy work, but what’s the reward? What do volunteers tend to get out of it?
Deena: It can be very heavy work. But former CASA volunteers often say they feel fulfilled because they were able to be there for a child.
In foster care, it’s not uncommon for a child to move homes, change schools, and have constant change. A CASA volunteer can be the consistent adult during that time.
Jeff: An anchor.
Deena: Exactly—an anchor. They feel fulfilled knowing the child looks forward to seeing them, that they helped ensure needs were met, and that they were there for that child to just be a kid—because it can be hard for them to do that in those circumstances.
And you don’t have to be in social work or be a former educator. You can be a regular person with any job.
Jeff: You run the state association and not all of the state is covered. Where are the pockets of need?
Deena: In Kansas right now, we have 20 local CASA programs across the state. Those programs serve 63 out of 105 counties—so there’s a good chunk of the state that’s not covered.
There are parts of the state that don’t currently have a program—southeast corner, southwest corner, northwest corner, a small section in northeast Kansas, and parts of central Kansas.
Even if there isn’t a program in your county, there are still kids being served, and you may be able to volunteer with the nearest program.
For example, we don’t currently have a program in Reno County, but we have volunteers from Reno County serving in other programs. And we just put in an application with National CASA to expand into Reno County—so we’re excited about that.
Our goal is to expand into more unserved areas. Brand awareness—where EAG helped us spread the word—is very helpful.
Jeff: Wherever you are listening, there’s a need. Consider volunteering, becoming a corporate sponsor, lending a hand—be a champion.
Let’s go into the lightning round. Are you ready?
Deena: I guess so.
Jeff: Best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Deena: Be yourself and work hard.
Jeff: What drew you to CASA? Give us the brief background.
Deena: I’m an education major—I used to be a first grade teacher. Then I spent 23 years in property management in the Kansas City area.
During that career, I co-chaired a philanthropy committee. I’ve always loved giving back, and that role sparked that I wanted to do more.
I took a leap of faith into the nonprofit world. It was a natural fit because I love children. I didn’t know much about child welfare at first, but now the mission is embedded in me.
Jeff: What’s the best part of your day—what makes it all worth it?
Deena: I had an “aha” moment at the state fair this year. We had a booth there for 10 days, and a woman came up to us and said she had to come see us because she saw the logo.
She told me the only reason she got back home to her mom was because of CASA. She said she had just lost her mom that year—and I lost it. We hugged and talked.
Hearing that from someone who was in the system—that CASA made that difference—was incredibly moving.
Jeff: That’s power. You don’t always get to hear those stories.
Okay—food question. Best way to prepare chicken? Favorite chicken dish?
Deena: My son loves chicken pot pie, but I don’t like making it. My favorite is a chicken orzo pot pie—shredded chicken, carrots, celery, and orzo pasta. It’s like pot pie in a dish without the crust.
Jeff: Let me switch to LinkedIn—your top voices include Simon Sinek and Ryan Reynolds, but your number one is Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. What’s up with that?
Deena: I’m a huge Chiefs fan—no question. But my son also likes Josh Allen, and we like him as a person. I also like hearing about his charity work.
Jeff: If you could pick any spokesperson for CASA in the world, who would it be?
Deena: Paul Rudd.
Jeff: If people want to volunteer or learn more about Kansas CASA, where do they go?
Deena: Go to KansasCASA.org. You’ll also see information about our 35th anniversary campaign, 35 for 35, with a goal of raising $35,000. We’re looking for 35 businesses to donate.
We also have an online auction coming up this summer, July 29th through the 31st. All that’s on the website.
You can send in an inquiry from anywhere in the state and it’ll come to me. I can connect you with the nearest local program for volunteering.
You can also see the Avery Johnson video, along with an impact video featuring current CASA volunteers and a former CASA youth.
Jeff: Deena Gage, State Director for the Kansas CASA Association—thanks for being on the program today.
Deena: Thank you. It was great to be here.
Jeff: And that is our show. Thanks so much to our guest, Deena Gage from the Kansas CASA Association.
And thank you for listening to the Small Business Miracles podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave us a five-star rating and review. Drop us a line on the website at e-a-g-a-d-v dot com if you have any thoughts.
Until then, we’ll be out here helping entrepreneurs with another Small Business Miracle.