CASTLE has been serving children and families on the Treasure Coast for the past 35 years, and this year they added a little jingle to their step with an inaugural Jingle Mingle hosted by Dyer Mazda. Organizers hoped to raise funds to assist the nonprofit to continue its important mission of preventing child abuse through education and awareness.
Guests mingled to the sounds of the Vero Beach High School musical ensemble, No Strings Attached, as they enjoyed an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and bid on silent-auction items. A festive array of gift baskets with everything from cigars to wine and jewelry tempted bidders to jingle the change in their pockets in support of CASTLE (Child Abuse Services Training Life Enrichment).
They hoped to raise $25,000 to ensure that it will be a magical holiday for all the children who benefit from CASTLE programming, which in Indian River County amounts to close to 1,000 children and parents.
“The reality is that everybody’s donation is going to make a big difference for a lot of our children,” said CASTLE Executive Director Theresa Garbarino-May. “They don’t understand why Santa Claus isn’t coming to their house. They want to be treated just like everyone else. This is a very commercialized time of year and people are talking about the holidays and Christmas, and these kids just want to be like everybody else.”
Every dollar that was spent at Jingle Mingle and every donation made between now and the end of the year will benefit CASTLE families directly.
The festivities ended with a very merry battle as auctioneer Lynette Marraffa created a snowstorm of bidding during the live auction. A lottery tree, Caribbean cruise and several themed Christmas trees were fought over in good-natured holiday spirit.
The evening was designed to raise both money and awareness about the various programs and services offered along the Treasure Coast. The cycle of poor parenting, abuse, divorce and domestic violence affecting families can be stopped through education, counseling and support – changing lives for generations to come.
“We have children in every ZIP code that depend on CASTLE to be there for them,” said Garbarino-May. “We are there to help parents who are going through divorce, are suffering because they want to be better parents and we couldn’t do that without the aid of our friends in the community.”
She said she was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet people in the community and share the mission of CASTLE adding, “There are more children than we can possibly serve. We have created this event to generate income so that we will be able to support larger numbers of families.”
The evening was a success, but sadly there are ever more children who need assistance and parents who could benefit from CASTLE’s effective parenting classes and counseling sessions.
