By Betsy Fortin, ’15
This summer I worked in the Development Office at Dallas CASA as a Special Events Intern. The Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta provides the funds for four Theta interns from all over the country to intern for their summer fundraising campaign. For the past fourteen summers, Dallas CASA has put on an event called “Parade of Playhouses” in North Park Mall. Stemming from CASA’s mission to provide a safe and permanent home for abused and neglected children, Dallas CASA invites artists, architects, designers, and builders to create dream playhouses for a child’s backyard. These playhouses, each with a different imaginative theme, are placed throughout North Park Mall for two weeks, during which time volunteers sell raffle tickets. For the first three weeks, my fellow Theta interns (one from DePauw University, one from Drake University, and one from Case Western University) worked in the CASA office finalizing all of the details and logistics for the event. We planned a launch party for all of the playhouse builders and CASA donors. Then, for the duration of the event, we managed the groundwork at North Park Mall. This involved training and supervising volunteers and overseeing the operation of the raffle. Each of the eighteen playhouses was gifted to one lucky winner at our grand finale drawing. We sold nearly 17,000 tickets and raised about $135,000 in just two weeks! Working at Dallas CASA was an incredibly rewarding experience, not only because I got to know Thetas from all over the country, but also because I was able to witness firsthand and participate in the amazing work that our national philanthropy does.