Claire Hotaling: College student making a difference
The Kappa Alpha Theta sorority has had a long history of supporting local and national CASA programs, and the chapter at Colorado College is no different.
In addition to raising money through events like Kicks for CASA, an annual kickball tournament, many of the sisters volunteer their time to help children whose families are in crisis.
Claire Hotaling is one of those sisters. The sophomore Feminist and Gender Studies major is currently training to be a volunteer facilitator in CASA’s Supervised Exchange and Parenting Time (SEPT) program.
“Because of my major, I spend a lot of time reading about the problems that exist in our society. It became very frustrating to be reading about all these issues and feeling like I couldn’t do anything about them,” Claire said. “I had already been doing some work with CASA through my sorority, so SEPT was an obvious choice.”
Claire is from a small town outside of Hartford, Conn. and has always enjoyed working with children as a babysitter and camp counselor but she’s hoping to take her impact on kids a step further through CASA.
“Through the SEPT program, I’m hoping I can help children and their families heal and grow. My family is so important to me and to be able to help other families means a lot… Watching my sorority sisters who worked with CASA before me was extremely inspiring and pushed me to get involved myself.”
Claire will facilitate visits between children and their non-custodial parents. She’ll monitor and document observations during these court-ordered supervised visits and then create reports for the court. She’s joining other SEPT volunteers to make it possible for kids to develop positive relationships with their parents.
“As someone who didn’t grow up in the Springs, I am so grateful for how welcoming and supporting this community has been,” she said. “A community is only as strong as the people who participate in it, so for me volunteering seemed like a great way to give back.”
Colorado Springs is lucky to have college students like Claire who find time to pitch in at the local level while also focusing on their studies and other activities. And CASA is very grateful to the Thetas at CC for all they’ve done for our local children over the years.
The next SEPT volunteer training begins in May. Want to join Claire in helping kids develop relationships with their parents? Click here to learn more about becoming a SEPT volunteer.