Name: Julie Ritsema
Title: Administrative Assistant
CASA Employee Since: February 2020
1) What did you do before you worked at CASA?
I worked in adoption and family services.
2) Describe your job in five words.
Different each and every day!
3) Can you describe what a typical day looks like for you?
Phones, greeting outside the many volunteers and donors that come to the office to drop off their generous donations for whatever we need at the time, assisting the supervisors, organizing the many donations, and general office administration.
4) What is the best part about working for CASA?
Knowing that everything you do is for the kids!
5) What is the craziest/most unusual thing you’ve done in the name of serving children in foster care?
In the early days of the pandemic, a child in foster care asked us for a table. "Something small and not too big" that would fit the small space set aside for his remote learning workstation. Our Executive Director Erica talked to our friends at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (which was closed during covid lockdown), and a table was found for him. On a sunny Saturday in April, I put the table in the back of my truck, and took it to the boy's house. The boy was waiting outside for me, and as soon as I opened the back of my truck he gave me the biggest smile!! He took his table off the truck and yelled “Thank you lady!” as he went off, carrying it up three flights of stairs to his apartment. Sometimes, it really is the little things!
6) When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A nurse.
7) What is your go-to comfort food?
Anything SWEET. I never met a dessert I didn't like.
8) What personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble?
I have a hard time saying NO!
9) What celebrity have people said you resemble or remind them of?
I've never been told I resembled a celebrity...lol. I will say that my celebrity "crush" is Bradley Cooper. Love me a little Bradley!
10) If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three items would you bring?
A good book, sunscreen, and a pair of shades!