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 Six Lincoln County CASA volunteers were honored with the national President’s Volunteer Service Award during a recent Stanford City Council meeting.

 Lincoln resident Priscilla Miller topped the list of recipients by contributing more than 560 hours to help abused and neglected children in 2024.

 The President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) program is a national program run through AmeriCorps and the Points of Light Foundation. It recognizes volunteers who positively benefit their communities with large numbers of volunteer hours within a 12-month period.

 Together, the six recipients who live and/or serve children in Lincoln County gave nearly 1,400 hours in 2024.

 “Lincoln County – yet again for our seven-county area – is topping the charts,” said Melynda Jamison, Executive Director of the CASA program serving Lincoln County.

 CASA volunteers are matched with abused and neglected children in the local family court system. Each volunteer visits their matched child monthly, talks to people in the child’s life, reviews records and provides information and recommendations to the judge on the child’s case.

 CASA volunteers can identify problems and offer solutions that help kids get more services and better outcomes.

 Lincoln County Family Court Judge Jane Venters attended the awards presentation and said she is grateful to have CASA volunteers available for children in her court.

 “These volunteers do an amazing job for the court. They make my job easier, but most importantly, they really make a difference in these children’s lives,” she said. “This is a wonderful service to the community.”

 Lincoln County’s CASA program had seven volunteers in 2024 who served 20 abused and neglected children. That represents an estimated 9 percent of the children with open cases in Lincoln County.

 “We are working to increase that percentage,” Jamison said.

 To serve as a CASA volunteer, you must first pass background checks and complete 30 hours of training. A regional training class for new volunteers begins in Lexington on April 3; a local training class for people interested in serving in Lincoln or Garrard counties begins May 6, with classes at the Garrard Education Center in Lancaster.

 “There are children waiting right now for you to go through training and give them just 5 to 10 hours of your time a month,” Jamison said. “It’s a relatively small investment of your time to completely change the trajectory of a child’s life. And you do the work with a trained support person available to you every step of the way.”

 If you would like to learn more about becoming a CASA volunteer and advocating for a Lincoln County child in need, visit www.casaoflexington.org.