Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/744387
8 LIVE IT UP! FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016 SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL Go to casaofsantacruz.org to see how one person can make a difference. Do you have 2-4 hours a week to help a child in foster care? /CASAScruz (831) 761-2956, ext. 102 TE R RY BALLANTYNE SERENO GROUP REAL ESTATE | 831-588-8485 | CalBRE# 01257150 Every Realtor practices differently. Pick an artist. TerryBallantyne.com Selling your home of many years? REALTOR ® C ASA of Santa Cruz County is looking for a few good men to volunteer as Advocates for children and youth in the foster care system. So oen, children re- moved from abusive homes have no positive male role models in their lives. Although half the children in foster care in Santa Cruz County are boys, only 20% of Court Ap- pointed Special Advocates are men. "With most of the children that are seen in dependency court, their primary parent is the mother," said e Honorable Denine Guy, a judge in the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County. "For a boy to have a male CASA makes all the difference in the world." Volunteer Advocates spend approxi- mately 2-4 hours a week with a child or youth with whom they've been matched. e volunteer builds a bond with the child, and advocates on their behalf in their school, with their caregivers, and in the court. "We're not looking for athletes or movie stars," said Jimmy Cook, CASA's Program Manager. "We're looking for men that have the time and the ability to step in a room, and just be there for a child." at man could be you. Watch the video at www.casaofsantacruz.org and contact CASA today: cita@casaofsantacruz. org or (831) 761-2956, ext. 102. M oving is so darn hard. It is so daunting, such an overwhelm- ing task, that many stay in unhappy conditions rather than move all that stuff. But here is the secret, the heart of it, as E.E. Cummings would say, 'Here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; Everyone hates moving. And aer 20 years I know for certain there are two distinct parts: e Emotional and the Physical. Physical: stuff is heavy, dusty, awkward, personal and tough to throw away; which brings us to part 2. Emotional: Every single thing you own, you have attached meaning to. e egg whisk you bought to make that new boyfriend omelets. e graduation keychain your daughter gave you when she le college. e watercolor you did on that art retreat in France. Each item is a cascade of memories from Your Life, the life that is now making some kind of radical shi or you would not be packing right? And you stand over each item, weighing its weight, feeling the psychic space in your mind, willing yourself to let it go. You put it down, resolved to decide next, right aer the 5 lb weights you bought to tone up your arms are decided upon. And Part 2a is the letting go of the intangibles! Get rid of all the yarn you bought when you wanted to knit, or the fishing equipment you bought to be a deep sea fisherman? NOOOOO! If you let that go it feels like letting go of the dream, forever casting away any hope of achieve- ment of those things. "TOO PAINFUL". And on it goes. It takes weeks to let go of these precious things. Need help? I have coached countless folks through this minefield. It can be done! B Y M A R Y K A S H M A R , D E V E L O P M E N T D I R E C T O R C A S A O F S A N T A C R U Z C O U N T Y B Y T E R R Y B A L L A N T Y N E , R E A L T O R ® Male Role Models Needed for Youth in Foster Care: Why We Hate Moving