three million that is the number of children reported each year as victims of abuse and neglect in the united states hello my name is for del carp and fund raiser for the washington county casa for kids over three hundred of these children are living here in washington county and to clear dependent in the juvenile system these children need your help to give them a voice in the court system and to speak up for their best interest currently casa volunteer court appointed special advocates advocates for only eighty four of those three hundred children volunteers are trained to work as fact finders then write reports for the judge prior to a hearing working as that extra set of eyes and ears the goal of the casa program would be to have a casa advocate the each child who has experienced abuse and or neglect in washington county the casa staff provide supervision and individual support for the volunteers in advocating for these abused and neglected children throughout the year casa kids hold fund raising events to help generate funds to enable the organization to continue training community volunteers so they can advocate for the thousand year and with your help and support we can continue to find stability in these children's lives so they can lead normal productive lives my guest today are the chefs and owners who also concerned community members themselves who have taken the time out of their busy schedule to be with us they will be talking about the restaurants they represent as well as the menu for the event we're also fortunate to have with us lynne silva's who is program director for the washington county chapter cost of the kids as well as a staff member and casa volunteer herself so i'd like to introduce you now to lynn hi lynn good morning for doe haria great thanks for coming today thank you now i can't think of a better person to explain to seattle washington by judge so cup he felt that he wasn't getting the information that he needed to protect children who came to him who had been abused or neglected and he thought that by turning community volunteers a programs across the united states today and we are one of those programs in washington county each program is run separately we are a nonprofit organization and we run a little bit differently because all the laws in different counties are little bit different and our program is is a national program but it's a little bit unique because we are washington county we run differently than allegheny county and westmoreland county and county where there are also programs nearby we serve actually our numbers have been updated and currently we are serving one hundred four children while we have thirty four volunteers right you need more volunteers we are training three new volunteers that hopefully can take some of our cases because we do have twenty four children on our wait list which is way too many children and we have more cases that the courts would like us to take the attorneys would like us to take and this c y s caseworkers would like to take up like us to take because we are truly that extra set of eyes and ears that gives the court and the caseworkers information that they might not have otherwise ok so let me ask you to be a cost of volunteer what does your background have to be that you cannot come from any background you just have to like people be open volunteers will work probably ten to fifteen hours a month on their case but each case is unique just like every child is unique and some volunteers advocate for just one child other really twenty four seven for them if they have questions concerns they can call us at any time ok and this training and there is training our volunteers do go through training thirty hours of training prior to become of all becoming a volunteer and we talk about the court systems we talk about c y s and how child welfare works in the state of pennsylvania we talk about the the issues that surround families drugs and alcohol and domestic violence a mental health issues the things that go into making a home possibly unsafe an unstable for a child well so you have pretty severe cases for we operate to severe we get we typically get the most severe cases that's where the courts and c y s really want us in there with those extra set of eyes and ears and then the nice thing about our our volunteers is that they have the time some of our volunteers do work full time and others are retired so people do come from all walks of life some folks have just a high school education and we have some who are attorneys some who have ph d s and they get their research  are sworn to confidentiality they do not reveal the information that they learn except to the court and the parties in the case but they learn as much as possible about the families they have a chance to read through the case files that other people don't even the c y s caseworkers don't have a chance to do the attorneys don't have a chance to do so that does take a long time but some of these cases have years and years of history well you know what i'm going to do at the end of the show i'm going to give our phone number and website and people to call just find out more information if they can be a volunteer that would be great because that's what this program is doing it's not only getting out there about chefs for cost of but also we need more more volunteers and we estimate that it costs about one thousand dollars per child to give good advocacy and as i said the courts what to assign us to more children by we we need to be able to advocate for the one it's that we  do thank you and will be back soon and talk with the shop's ok terrific ok thank you and i'm starting to worry about my boyfriend one minute he's supportive the next minute everything is my fault he says a couple of beers get him in a good mood his idea of a couple of beers usually turns out to be a lot more than just one or two and that's when i start to worry after he's had too many peers he gets really angry and i become the target i hate to say it but he reminds me too much of my last boyfriend many good men out there my best friend is a social worker she told me to try alan on family groups so i can understand my feelings better i didn't want to go because i didn't want to get into another argument with my boyfriend but i'm glad i went i'm starting to understand that i didn't this anger it didn't cause his drinking it's a great relief to hear a new perspective from my problems are you troubled by someone's drinking you might be surprised at what you can learn in an al anon family group meeting from people just like you for alan on a visit alan on family groups  dad wait to see the bike we got for jake hearing loss happens gradually with age making it easy to ignore yet most older americans aren't getting their hearing tested untreated hearing loss can keep your loved ones from enjoying what they cherish most that here don't let that happen speak up about hearing loss you'll be glad you did when you're finished with your food or beverage cartons toss it in the recycling the bad because every card is recyclable and can be turned into useful paper products well as you can tell by the names except for two we're doing this year seasons of italy and i just want to thank you all for being here you know i know your schedule is so busy being chefs and owners of your own restaurants but i really just want to thank you and i want everyone out there to know the time that you put in to do this selflessly is just commended the community thanks you and i personally thank you so again thank you you're welcome and so i can every want to know a little bit about you all of you who you are where you come from the restaurants we're going to start with tim being your next to me tim this is thames i believe it's your sixth year with us to a six something i don't know but you have been with us every year and we can't thank you enough you are the bakery of peter's   very very humble beginnings we sold pies to grocery stores and just business evolved grew organically my wife and i got married right out of college decided that we were going to take over the business which we did we grew it into a very large national business and we're very fortunate to be able to sell that off and developed through all that the idea that what we do now at bartrum house would be needed in the marketplace and that's a scratch bakery that's sort of an urban feel in a suburban area just you know it is when you walk into the environment it is we do we do really good scratch pastries we make homemade food breakfast lunch and dinner peters township has has supported us just just fantastic we've been very successful  five years six years whatever it is again denise and i just we went for it and it works and we watch it very closely we make sure that we stay if you are i mean is on how you are always there is always a two restaurant supported us we in turn feel that our obligation to support our community whether it's you know through sports organization or a student organization and then you know the community at large as far as washington county with chefs for casa and that's why tell me the first year that you and denise are doing this to give back we do and it's huge because we have between two and three hundred people that show up at the event so for you to put out desserts for that many it's ok it's the it's work you have to see that the whole thing is community our success is because of the community the community if there's some sort of success in it because of what we can do and that's our obligation that's of any successful business persons obligation is to give back it flows right back again to you so absolutely no and what a great place i love going to have i don't go in there for even though you have to work oh yeah but it's fun and the food is excellent i just you know but a year and a half ago so you've been a chef for many years and you're representing dallas area across tell us a little bit about yourself while i've been in the business and so i was a little young and i mean i'm sure domenica here can relate to that  think you think you i lived in california the last six sixteen years i ran two successful restaurant of my own unfortunately due to the economy and to some other issues that forced me to come on yes i figured that i want to new fresh start i have family here in pittsburgh i figure when i come to the to the city that i always loved and wanted to come back to sour on his losses out again so thank you  small catering to large events such as weddings and i had my first wedding there this last october well congratulations september yeah i guess shy was not there yet but you know we do i mean of course spring is knocking on the door here and then of course some around the corner or do also do barbecues and all not only in our event venue but also outside so we can you know we can also see anywhere from four hundred to four hundred people in our facility yeah it's a beautiful place it's gorgeous just walked into italy tuscany it's just beautiful so we'll once again we do any large banquets and catering definitely well we're excited and we thank you because i know you're busy at bellisario with all the events and all the luncheon and the dinners and the wedding so to time aside for this event while it's quite appreciated and it's an honor for me to participate in tim thank you for saying it is about the community and it's about giving back totally that's what life's about g ah so you ok so you did a lot in italy before coming here exactly well we're living there i didn't live there i went back and forth to learn i went to school they exactly i was a school there i would leave my children my first met you that you go into italy and everyone knows you for you know for your cooking your family but you're bringing that authenticity into peter's township trying to yes well we're going to get your name out there i mean designer the architect the engineer of that project he built that from the ground we bought the land three years ago and we just celebrated our one year anniversary march ninth we actually regulations course it is a lot of house nine to two he will always come out and said hello so if you wanna come by and see the legend at work with his apron on you can we've recently just made chocolate mustaches so that we can give all the kids as they come in and out of father's father my father most father started eighty years ago with a horse and buggy in a wagon and oakland what i want to get out there though is there's like i look at it this way three parts to your correct right there's the cafe the breakfast can't get anywhere and it's work and we have brought in items that you can't even get in this direction so we have a whole morning on the line that we've brought in the past the line which is a phenomenal past online and make all of my on the show yes tell about that i mean that is a would grill it's just all wood fired everybody comes out of the wood fired oven their menu there you know you make it simple it's it's just rustic telling food nothing fancy nothing play did nothing special just good fresh food and it's a nice sitting area where you have it we have arguably one of the it's a dose everybody sits together from what everyone has heard how could they not come to this event you know there's going to be entertainment there's going to be food it's a community thing there's usually at over two hundred people there to record  record the most we've ever had was to twenty five i would love to make it holds four hundred people i would love to have three hundred this year and we should we should we put it out there for the community no reason why everyone should support  have the number when i need you to run over here and give me the number for casa i was on the screen excellent ok the number for and the website so please call make your reservation