| A Portrait of a Servant Leader
Jan Mitchell
Hometown: Borden, IN
Class: Senior
Major: Public Leadership and Service
Minor: Legal Studies
Jan never knew that an ordinary trip to Wal-Mart last year would end up changing her life.
On that particular day, CASA had a booth set up in Wal-Mart to promote awareness and hand out information about their organization. Jan was interested in the CASA booth, and therefore talked with CASA board member, Charlene McGough, for a few minutes in Wal-Mart. As a result, Jan has been involved with CASA for over a year now.
Jan Mitchell, a senior from Milligan College, has devoted her entire junior and senior years of college volunteering for the CASA of Northeast Tennessee. CASA of Northeast Tennessee provides service to Unicoi, Greene, and Washington County as well as the city of Johnson City.
CASA stands for Court Appointed Service Advocates. CASA is a national non-profit organization, separated into local programs, working with abused and neglected children. Trained community volunteers from CASA, called advocates, investigate child abuse and neglect cases, and speak out for the best interest of the child through a report prepared for the judge.
Jan started volunteering for CASA by helping with various fundraising events during her junior year to learn more about the program and event planning. She mentioned to CASA board members, Charlene and Bob McGough, her interest in completing her required internship for her senior year with CASA, and once again, Charlene helped Jan, and shortly thereafter, Jan received an internship with CASA.
Jan worked as an intern at CASA under the supervision of Stephanie Sanders and Amy Lewis, during the fall of 2007, and made a huge impact with her talents and abilities for the organization. She was given her own personal desk, and her daily responsibilities included answering phone calls, working on the CASA newsletter, redesigning the CASA brochure, and writing various informational pieces.
Jan also developed a backgrounder for CASA, which is a fact sheet with CASA's information. CASA has never used a backgrounder before, and Jan helped develop the backgrounder.
As CASA is a non-profit organization, they rely strictly on grants, donations, and fundraisers. Consequently, Jan helped with two major fundraisers this past fall.
The CASA of Northeast Tennessee hosted its first Red Shoe Gala on September 15, 2006 at the Johnson City Country Club. The Gala was a dinner and silent auction, intended for raising necessary funds for CASA. The theme was based off of The Wizard of Oz. Just as Dorothy was searching for her home, CASA's mission is also to return children to a safe and permanent home. Jan was part of the committee that planned the event. She designed the program and helped organize the auction items and gifts. She also facilitated fellow college volunteers from Milligan College. The Gala was a huge success and the most lucrative fundraiser in the history of CASA of Northeast Tennessee.
“The evening was wonderful and I walked away having learned so much first-hand knowledge that I feel more confident than ever that event planning is a road God wants me to continue on. I was stressed and scared at times, but through it all, I knew that I was right where I needed to be.”
Shortly after, CASA had their first annual golf outing on October 2 nd at the Johnson City Country Club. Jan ran various tasks throughout the day, but her main responsibility was taking pictures throughout the beautiful day. She was also able to relax and mingle with the golfers.
“It was amazing to meet all the different people at the event who were so passionately committed to helping our organization out.”
During the Christmas holiday season, CASA works with the Johnson City Barnes and Noble Bookstore to provide gift-wrapping services to the bookstore customers. CASA has been providing this service for four years now. Jan and her fellow CASA employees and volunteers take shifts at the CASA booth and wrap presents for free, only asking for donations. This is another way CASA promotes their organization and awareness to the local community.
CASA relies on volunteer advocates from the local community to go into troubled homes and investigate child cases. Each advocate must be over twenty-one years of age, complete thirty hours class training, five hours court training, commit to the case for a one year time span, and be sworn in at the courthouse. They are limited to two cases at a time to better serve the children and families.
 Jan recently turned twenty-one and completed the required training to become a CASA advocate. She has been sworn into the Johnson City and Washington County Juvenile Courts. A short time ago, she received her first case as an advocate. After extensive time and thought, Jan will present her report to a judge with her recommendation.
Due to Jan's recent contact with the court system because of CASA, Jan has received a further internship with the Johnson City Juvenile Court system for the upcoming spring 2007 semester. She will be observing the court cases and performing secretarial duties. This internship never would have been possible without CASA.
“This internship has really opened some doors for me. I keep thinking of how God has opened doors for me right and left, and how He continually is leading me right now.”
Jan's internship was made possible in part by the Institute for Servant Leadership, a spiritual program at Milligan College, helping students to discover their call in servant leadership and to discern their own vocation path through leadership, service, and faith.
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