Volunteer Spotlight

Crystal Moody

CASA Volunteer since Spring 2019

In her short time as a CASA volunteer so far, Crystal has blown us away with her dedication, persistence, and genuine care and concern for the youth she is working with. Her case has had a lot of ups and downs during the last few months, and at times has been incredibly emotionally trying. However, Crystal has met every challenge that has arisen head on, and has gone out of her way to make her relationship with the child a priority. With her past knowledge and experience, her commitment, and her incredible amount of selflessness and concern for others, Crystal has become an immensely valuable CASA volunteer. We are so grateful to have her as a part of our organization. Read below to hear Crystal's story!

"I was born here in Astoria, but lived the majority of my life in Colorado and Illinois. I moved back to Astoria with my husband and our 15 year old son almost 5 years ago. I still feel new here and get very excited when we have opportunities to explore the PNW. I strive to celebrate the everyday by doing things I enjoy including, home and garden chores, cooking, baking and planning my next project. Putting on a record and putting my hands to work is an almost daily ritual, allowing me process whatever is going on in my head.

I work at Buoy Beer Company in a few different capacities. I have been at Buoy for over 4 years and feel very lucky to work for a company that values their employees, offering us paid health insurance including vision and dental, PTO, retirement benefits, and lots of other fun perks. At Buoy I can make a livable wage without having to work around the clock to make ends meet, which allows me to be able to invest more in my personal life. I have reached a point in my life where I want to invest my time and energy into what aligns with my values, and I am able to find that here with them.

I found CASA in 2017 while I was working as an advocate at The Harbor, however I was not able pursue an opportunity with CASA at that time because of mandatory reporting conflicts. Becoming a CASA was my main goal when I left the Harbor in 2018, and I was pretty excited to start the training that spring. I was given the case I have now in late July. It was pretty smooth sailing the first couple of months before some unfortunate events complicated things, and it has been up and down since. What has surprised me most is how emotional and humbling this experience has been, and how I wish I could do so much more. I do my best to show up and call when I say I will, offer encouragement and validation, or sometimes just laugh and talk about normal everyday things to help take the load off for a short time. I feel it is so important to acknowledge and speak openly about human experiences and human emotion, not always just telling someone to cheer up and stay positive. No human alive can thrive without help and support, and that it's perfectly acceptable to feel any emotion you may be feeling. I feel very honored to be able to get to know this courageous and beautiful human.

I am passionate about advocacy and working with youth because I was a kid who needed help, though I could not articulate that until later into my adult years. My parents have several divorces between them so we were shuffled around quite a bit. The thing that I most regret about my childhood is the 25 years I have lost with my brothers. Domestic violence and abuse were prevalent in my homes throughout my childhood and had lasting impacts on my mental health. I developed crippling anxiety, triggered by any situation where I was the center of attention, or when someone commented on my appearance. I became very introverted and had a hard time connecting with people. I attributed all of these problems to who I was as a person, and was upset with myself for not knowing how to change. My anxiety became easier to manage when I no longer had to live in a toxic environment and developed better coping skills. When I started working in advocacy and doing volunteer work with CASA and VOCA, I began to understand trauma and how it effects each person differently. The time I have had working with survivors inspired my journey to make peace with myself and start fully living my life without being hindered by the weight of the past. I reflect often on my journey to advocacy, and how much it has changed my perspective on life in general. I am forever grateful for all of the different training opportunities I have been given, the advocates and volunteers that I have met and worked with, and all of the survivors that have inspired me and taught me so much. This small town has a big heart, and I am so happy to be here."

-Crystal Moody, CASA