News Release

WARSAW — The Agnes Pruyn Chapman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution met at noon Tuesday, Oct. 22, at Pizza Hut in Warsaw.

The guest speaker was Janelle Meyer, program manager of the Court-Appointed Special Advocates program, or CASA, which serves children. The CASA program is in 49 of the 50 states and was started in Kosciusko County in 1992.

Meyer has been with CASA for more than 11 years. She said there are two kinds of cases the program sees. One type involves abused and neglected children in custody battles. The other type involves neglected children in which the No. 1 reason for neglect is a parent’s drug use. The program now has 150 local cases, with most clients being between birth and 4 years old. Each case usually lasts for approximately 18 months.

The CASA program relies on more than 50 volunteers and is always in need of more. Each volunteer must be at least 21 years old, pass a background check, be willing to commit for 18 months and go through 33 hours of training. A volunteer is assigned to one case, which could be one child or numerous children from the same household. Volunteers work with Child Protective Services. The goal is for children to be able to go home safely.

Laura Lockridge, vice regent, opened the meeting by leading the DAR opening rituals, the pledge to the flag and the recitation of the American’s Creed and the Preamble to the Constitution. Lockridge then read the president general’s message and gave the national defense report on Constitution Week.

Susan Creamer read the secretary’s report, and Janice Cox gave the treasurer’s report. The club received an invitation from the Columbia City chapter to attend a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the defeat of Col. Augustin de La Balme by Chief Little Turtle in Whitley County.

Theresa Green gave a report on the Fall Forum. She had an application workshop following the meeting.

The next regular meeting will be at noon Tuesday, Nov. 26, at Pizza Hut. The program will be given by Sheila Strickland from the Kosciusko Historical Society.

DAR membership is open to any woman who can prove her ancestor fought for or aided in the American Revolution. Find more information at dar.org.