‘Dancing for Dreams'

June 9 fund raiser will provide children in foster care with childhood accessories Central Valley - The Epiphany Dance Company of Central Valley will hold its annual spring recital on Friday, June 9, at 7 p.m. at Monroe-Woodbury High School to benefit children in foster care in Orange County. The dance company and CASA of Orange County are collaborating on this project in an effort to provide children in foster care with childhood accessories that all children deserve. Jennifer Sercander, director of CASA, said those accessories include such items as high school year books, prom dresses, class rings and tickets to special events and class trips. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Assistants and is a non-profit program of the Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) whose volunteers are trained to monitor the progress of children in foster care. For the past 20 years, the CASA program has provided an opportunity for Orange County residents to become involved with the children in the Family Court system. The program provides specially trained community volunteers to monitor cases of children that have been abused and neglected and have been placed in foster care. In 2005 CASA served 108 children in Orange County with 25 volunteers. A CASA volunteer is very often the single constant in a child’s life, Sercander said. Last year, Epiphany Dance Company also dedicated its spring recital to the effort under the theme of “Dancing for Duffles,” which resulted in the donation of hundreds of student duffle bags for the children as well as hundreds of dollars for other supplies, said Mary Shea, the dance company’s director. The “Dancing for Dreams” program is ongoing. Donations may be mailed to or dropped off at the CASA office, located at 14 Scotchtown Avenue, Goshen, N.Y. 10924. The telephone number is 845-294-8082, extension 25 and 26; the e-mail address for Jennifer Sercander, director of CASA, is jenns@drcservices.org and for Maureen Woods, the program coordinator, is morew@drcservices.org.