Chevron shocks CASA with $100,000 donation
| Friday, Dec 18 2009 05:14 PM
Last Updated Friday, Dec 18 2009 05:15 PM
That was some trick Chevron's public affairs team played on the head of CASA of Kern County, Colleen McGauley.
A spokesman for the oil company had told her it may have a little money left over at the end of the year -- maybe $1,000 or so -- that it could give the nonprofit whose mission is to advocate on behalf of abused and neglected children.
A little money indeed. When McGauley opened Chevron's check at a private ceremony Tuesday night, the actual amount was $100,000.
"Oh my gosh. There wasn't a dry eye in the place," said McGauley, the local chapter's executive director. Photos circulated later showed her jumping into the air.
Never has the organization received a donation anywhere near that much money, she said. It may be that CASA will use the sum to establish a endowment that would help the chapter become more self-sufficient, though McGauley said her board of directors has not yet made a decision on what to do with the money.
For Chevron, which has been contributing to CASA since 1995, the gift reflects an appreciation for the work the chapter does.
"Our investment in the CASA program aligns with Chevron's California Partnership, investing in our local community and throughout our home state," Chevron spokeswoman Carla Musser wrote in an e-mail Friday.
CASA is an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocates. Relying on about 200 volunteers ("always looking for more," McGauley said), the organization represents children headed for foster care or group homes, and attempts to get them placed in permanent homes, such as with relatives, where the care provided is generally better and less expensive.
An annual survey of 43 cities with CASA programs recently estimated the systemwide cost to care for one child for a year to be $2,400. The Kern chapter's average cost for providing care for its 325 children is $1,800, McGauley said.
Chevron's contribution comes at a good time: Recently the organization lost two large grants totaling $180,000 a year. That's a lot of money for an organization with an annual budget of about $1 million.
"Chevron was aware of this and so they stepped up," McGauley said.
"It is certainly merry Christmas," she added.
