Key Club sponsors 'Paper Lions' at Villa on Sunday

Several Malta Kiwanians became interested in the CASA program, and contacted Mark Douglass, the area executive director, to come speak at our meeting. He informed the group that he is responsible for recruiting, screening, and supervising volunteers from Havre to Glasgow. CASA stands for Court Appointed Student Advocate. The mission of this group is to recruit, screen, train, and supervise volunteers to serve as advocates in the court for children who have been abused and/or neglected. It offers a voice for youth in the child welfare system through a one-on-one relationship with trained and supervised court appointed volunteer advocates. CASA strives to prevent additional abuse and neglect through the positive intervention of trained community volunteers working to assist the court, child, and family to find and maintain a safe and permanent home for children experiencing mistreatment. At this time, there are no CASA volunteers in the Malta area. Once the volunteers are trained, they meet with students, develop a rapport with them, and assist them with living situations, court dates and hearings, etc.

The Malta Key Club and Kiwanis is sponsoring the movie Paper Tigers, a documentary about students in an alternative high school in Washington, and the daily struggles of several students attending this school.

The movie was produced in 2014 by James Redford (Robert Redford’s son) and Karen Pritzker, and was originally planned to be filmed by a crew that would follow several students through their school year. The students, however, had different ideas. They decided that if their private lives were to be magnified to view, THEY would do the filming. This movie has some adult language, and recommended viewers include junior high and older students and adults interested in children and their future. The movie will be held at the Villa Theatre in Malta on Sunday, November 13th at 3 p.m. Admission to the movie is a donated item for CASA volunteers, and the concessions at the theatre will be available, at cost.

Donated items CASA volunteers are in need of are items for older elementary students and high schoolers. These include adult coloring books, playing cards, simple board games, drawing paper, bagged snacks, and wrapped candy.

Mark Douglass is the executive director for CASA in our area. If you have any questions about CASA, or might be interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact him at 406-265-6743 ext. 1135, or view their website at http://www.casaofhillcounty.org.