In the end, those who attended Advocates for Children’s Crooners For CASA just couldn’t help falling in love with … Elvis and The Memphis Soul.
The group, with Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Superintendent Jim Roberts shaking it to “Burning Love,” complete with BCSC backup singers and two bodyguards, won the grand prize, raising $4,949 for Advocates for Children.
Wearing Elvis’ well-known white jumpsuit, jewelry and scarf, Roberts made his entrance from the back of The Commons performance hall with his bodyguards holding back the fans as he worked his way through the tables. And he worked the audience into a frenzy with the trademark Elvis shake.
The People’s Choice Award, with the second highest donation total, went to Friendzy performing the famous “Baby Shark” song, wearing shark costumes, raising $4,946.
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A touching moment arrived when Advocates for Children staff, calling themselves “Starfish,” performed in memory of Chuck Grimes, a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) who died last year.
Starfish were scattered about the tables in the audience and Gene Foldenauer of Advocates for Children explained that it was a reference to the story of a young child walking along a beach where thousands of starfish had been washed up — and the child began picking each one up and throwing it back in the ocean.
When adults asked him why he was throwing the starfish back in the ocean one by one, the child was told all the starfish couldn’t be saved. The child initially seemed crushed. But then, picking up another starfish and hurling it into the ocean, he looked up and said, “Well I made a difference to that one!”
Advocates for Children officials said those who attended the event were helping make a difference, one child at a time.
Grace Kestler, Advocates for Children community outreach coordinator, said Saturday night’s event raised about $49,500 for the organization, which recruits, trains and supervises Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers who represent kids in the court system who are in foster care or other circumstances and have no one to speak for them.
In 2018, CASA volunteers and staff advocated for 959 of the community’s most vulnerable children and the organization was able to eliminate its waiting list of children for an advocate. There are more than 100 CASA volunteers in Bartholomew, Decatur and Jennings counties, Kestler said.
About 275 people attended the Crooners event at The Commons, and in addition to the main entertainment of community singers performing, there was the “Wheel-of-’Oke” in which those in attendance were invited to nominate their friends to be in the spotlight and perform karaoke. One twist was that the lucky person whose name came up on the spinning wheel could not choose their own song — each reached into a bag and pulled out a song title.
The audience roared for two people called up when the “wheel” named them: BCSC Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services Chad Phillips and BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman, who had just performed as Elvis bodyguards, complete with sunglasses, for Roberts.
When they returned to the stage, the song assignment was “It’s Raining Men” by the Weathergirls, a song that neither BCSC administrator said they were familiar with. After bantering about who was going to sing lead, they bravely took on the song with the chorus, “It’s raining men, hallelujah; It’s raining men, amen.”
Other standout performances during the night included Ilio Gonzales, lead singer with the Tiptonians, performing Michael Buble’s version of “Feeling Good,” and the Fourth Street Boys, Cruz Baisa and Patrick Sabo, with the Backstreet Boys’ “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
To learn more about CASA and how you can help children in the community through its programs, visit childadvocatesnetwork.org/find-your-local-program/bartholomew-county/.
