Dallas CASA’s Champion of Children Award Dinner Will Honor the Dallas Mavericks
(Featured photo: Nicki and Paul Stafford, Janice and Richard Davis.)
Dallas CASA will honor the Dallas Mavericks with the Jan and Judge Barefoot Sanders Champion of Children Award for their commitment to bettering the lives of Dallas children.
The award will be presented at a dinner on October 18 at The Fairmont Dallas. All funds raised at the event benefit the child victims of abuse and neglect served by the agency’s volunteers.
Since their first season in 1980-81, the Dallas Mavericks have seamlessly combined competitiveness of spirit with a duty to serve their community in meaningful ways.
“The Dallas Mavericks have worked their way into everyone’s heart,” said Dallas CASA President and CEO Kathleen M. LaValle. “Not only do we cheer them on at games, but we’re inspired by their incredible sense of giving back. Winning games isn’t enough for the Dallas Mavs; they’ve woven themselves into the very fabric of our city.”
The Dallas Mavericks and their Mavs Foundation are integrated into the city, doing everything from coat drives, hospital visits and camps for kids to building learning and play spaces for children throughout the city. In the 2023 basketball season, the Mavs Foundation granted more than $1,000,000 to 25 nonprofits, impacting more than 50,000 from vulnerable populations.
In 2021, the team adopted Dallas Independent School District’s Adelle Turner Elementary, investing in the school through mentorship programs, educational resources and multiple opportunities for children to engage with the Mavericks organization.
In 2024, they added Royce West Leadership Academy. They have also opened the American Airlines Center for voting during the pandemic and led city-wide conversations about race and violence, setting the example for National Basketball Association teams nationwide.
Dallas CASA trains and supervises community volunteers who advocate for children living in the protective care of the state. Volunteers seek to protect children and restore childhood by working with everyone in a child’s life, including families, caseworkers, doctors, attorneys, therapists, teachers and more. Volunteers are appointed to cases by judges and stay for the duration of the case, often serving as the only consistent adult for children in a tumultuous system.
Guest speaker Sixto Cancel will share his own story of foster care and the difference one caring adult could have made in his life. Cancel first came into foster care at age 11 months. He was adopted by age nine, re-entered foster care at age 13 and eventually aged out of the system. It wasn’t until he was an adult that he discovered extended family members who served as foster parents and could have raised him.
“It was written in my file in July of 1998 that I had no viable family,” Cancel said. “But no one asked the questions. If they had, I would have ended up with my family.”
Today, Cancel is the founder and CEO of Think of Us, a nonprofit that aims to create a foster care system where every child has a loving home. A nationally recognized leader driving change in the foster care system, Cancel seeks to improve outcomes for youth and families. Think of Us is the nation’s largest community of experts with live experience in child welfare.
Honorary chair for the event is Bob Mong, a Dallas luminary who recently retired after nine years as the president of the University of North Texas at Dallas. Mong served on the Dallas Mavericks Advisory Council. He was previously a journalist, primarily at The Dallas Morning News where he was managing editor and editor-in-chief.
The 2024 Champion of Children Award Dinner is chaired by Janice and Richard Davis and Nicki and Paul Stafford. Janice, Nicki and Paul all serve as Dallas CASA volunteers, and Janice and Nicki serve on Dallas CASA’s board of directors.
The Champion of Children Award is named in honor of Judge Barefoot Sanders, a revered United States District Court judge for the Northern District of Texas, past award recipient and steadfast supporter of Dallas CASA, and his wife Jan, a longtime Dallas CASA volunteer. The award is given annually to recognize community leaders who significantly improve the lives of youth in our community, particularly those whose lives have been marked by abuse, neglect or other adversity.
Past recipients of the award include organizations like The Meadows Foundation, the Junior League of Dallas and NorthPark Center, along with individuals like La La Land Kind Café founder Francois Reihani, Jessica and Dirk Nowitzki, Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones and Judge Harriet O’Neill.
Event link Ticket link
The 2024 Champion of Children Award Dinner would not be possible without the support of the following sponsors:
Presenting: White Rhino Coffee Foundation.
Champion: Marshalling Resources, LLC.
Platinum: Pioneer Natural Resources.
Crystal: Jana and Mike Brosin / Crest Auto Group, Janice and Richard Davis, Double Eagle, The Hoglund Foundation, Linda and Rob Swartz.
Gold: Fran and Mark Berg, The Hirsch Family Foundation, Jackson Walker LLP / Retta A. Miller, Deborah Ackerman and John Lozier, Paula and Scott Orr, The Rosewood Corporation.
Silver: Anonymous, Priscilla and Corey Anthony, Barbara and Ben Cervin / Margaret Cervin, Dallas Mavericks, Stephanie and David Krahe, Kathleen and Michael LaValle, Republic Finance, The Wales Family Foundation.
Bronze: Mary Lynn and Fred Bangs, Rachel and Greg Barnes, Carla Brandt, Calvetti Ferguson, Debby and Hugh Comer, Aaliyah Haqq, Hello Nanny®, James Avery Artisan Jewelry, Kappa Alpha Theta Dallas Alumnae Foundation, Lisa and Dave Kroencke, Locke Lord LLP, Hannah and Greg May, Juan J. Nevarez, Stephen B.L. Penrose, Gina and Randall Porter, Jennifer and David Rea, Helen and Frank Risch, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Shirley & William S. McIntyre Foundation, Nicki and Paul Stafford.
Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) seeks to protect children, restore childhood and help child victims of abuse or neglect achieve their full potential. The agency’s trained and supervised community volunteers are assigned by judges to advocate for the best interests of children who have experienced abuse or neglect and are living in the protective care of the state. For many children in foster care, their Dallas CASA volunteer is the only consistent, caring adult in their lives during a frightening, uncertain time. Dallas CASA envisions a day when all children experience safe childhoods and grow into resourceful, healthy adults. Now in its 44th year, Dallas CASA serves more children than any of the more than 900 CASA programs nationwide. In 2023, 1,088 Dallas CASA volunteers were assigned to advocate for 2,151 children in protective care. For the past five years, the agency has been able to provide an advocate for every Dallas child in need, but each year more advocates are needed. To learn more, visit dallascasa.org.
(Images courtesy Dallas CASA.)
(Philanthropy Lifestyles gratefully acknowledges Dallas CASA as sponsor of this eBuzz post.)
