Twenty-four years ago, Child Advocates, Inc. (then called CASA) opened its doors with three volunteer staff members, an organizational budget of $5,000 and a vision of providing one of the most powerful tools for children who were victims of horrific child abuse, neglect and abandonment-a voice.

Over two decades, 14,000 children and 3,000 volunteers later, I still marvel at the impact that our organization has made in our city, and most importantly, in the lives of so many children whose lives have been critically affected by life-threatening child abuse. None of this could have been accomplished without the collective support, commitment, tenacity and compassion of the community-volunteers, staff and board members, corporations and foundations or individuals who may not have had much to give, but believed in our mission and gave what they could.

While we celebrate our service to Houston's most severely abused children, we are sobered by the continuing epidemic of child abuse in our city. We are troubled by the sensational child abuse cases that make the headlines and moved to action by the accounts of abuse in cases we handle every day that may not make the 5 o'clock news.

Our work is far from complete. On any given day in our city, nearly 5,000 children are victims of life-threatening child abuse, neglect and abandonment. With our current pool of volunteers, financial and organizational resources, we are only able to help fewer than half of the children who need us. This year, our goal is to help 1,775 children, but we can only accomplish this goal with your continued support. If you are willing to directly impact an abused child's life by becoming a court appointed advocate volunteer, we need you. If you are unable to commit to becoming a court appointed advocate, but wish to support our mission with a financial contribution, we need you. If you are unsure of exactly what role you'd like to have in impacting the lives of abused children, but know that you want to make a positive difference, we need you. Whatever your talent, profession or social status, your support of our mission is critical.

I encourage you to peruse our site and learn more about all of the opportunities we have available to become involved and support our mission. Thank you so much for visiting our website and for your interest in impacting the lives of abused children.

Sincerely,

CEO, Child Advocates, Inc.