YOLO Spotlight - Lori Ross, CASA Volunteer!
Our theme for April is foster kids and foster families and those who help them. This meshes with our annual Fantasy Fairies event held every spring at KLJ Studios that helps raise money for a great nonprofit that assists the foster care community.
Lori Ross is a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA. CASA’s take an intensive training course, participate in court observations, and undergo other training and supervision before obtaining the important job of getting to know and advocate for a foster child.
Lori has been the CASA for one special girl for 11 years. She says the girl has been through so much in her short life and Lori won’t “quit” her, ever. Lori refers to the (now) young lady as her god-daughter. Lori believes she is extremely lucky that this young lady came into her life and stayed; we feel the young lady is also lucky to have such a fierce advocate as Lori in her corner.
FUN FACT #1
Lori grew up in Woodland and went to Sac State to obtain a degree in liberal studies, emphasizing teaching early childhood education. She spent a year in France as an au pair, eventually having a son with special needs and returning to the U.S. She was very competitive in school with talents in cheerleading and gymnastics, being in competitions and then coaching.
FUN FACT #2
Lori has a casual style in dress and personality and that explains why her favorite place to be is at the beach. In fact, every year for the last 40 years, her large extended family has gathered at Dillon Beach, having a huge family blow-out. She loves rap music from the ‘80’s, thrift store shopping, and was the kid in high school that was friends with everyone.
FUN FACT #3
Lori has three dogs, two boxers and an adorable mutt. She bought a camper trailer to go camping with the dogs. She can see herself eventually retiring to travel around in the camper, with the pups, of course. Her family and religion are most important to her in life and the solid upbringing she had with her family and church gave her the desire and ability to give back to the community.
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT LORI?
1. Lori is also the Community Engagement Director at the United Way in Yolo County with the office located in Woodland. She says it is her dream job and she enjoys the opportunity of building relationships in the community as well as the social aspect and diversity of what she does.
2. After college, she worked at the YMCA and absolutely loved that job. It was so fulfilling that she still loves the YMCA to this day.
3. In her spare time (Say what? When does she have spare time?), Lori is involved with Rotary and coaches for the Special Olympics. But when she was young her goal was to be Julie McCoy on the Love Boat. And considering her social skills and organizational instincts, we think she would have made a great Julie McCoy, Cruise Director.
When Lori finally decides to retire she would love to get a United States map and fill it in every time she visits a new state. She has ten states under her belt already, so she is off to a good start.
Folks like Lori that can dedicate so much of their time and emotions to help the quality of life of even one foster child are tremendous assets to our community. We are pleased to have spent some time with her and wish her well in the future when she takes on her dream of travelling the country and filling in her map.