CASS COUNTY — The life of a foster child can be difficult. For one reason or another, they have been displaced from their families and must bare their new reality, often on their own or with their young siblings.

In the state of Michigan, there are around 13,000 children in foster care, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Many of those children are in Cass County.

To help these children, Cass County CASA trains and coordinates volunteers, who will act as a voice for the children in the court system.

“CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates,” said Ella Ryder, the director of Cass County CASA. “We are fortunate to have about 29 volunteer all together. These are folks that give up their to work with kids who are in the foster care system if Cass County. They go through about 30-hour training. Then they come to training every month. Then they get support from us.”

Cass County CASA is a nonprofit located in Cassopolis. In order to fund their operation, the organization hosts an annual action. This year, the auction will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 15.

“This year’s auction is going to be in Marcellus at Stable Hill,” Ryder said. “It’s a wedding venue but they’ve graciously allowed us to come in and use it for our auction. It’s an auction, dinner and reception. The reception is hosted by Judge Dobrich and she has done this every year. She is the founder of our organization.”

There will be drinks and appetizers served during the reception. The dinner is a buffet that will include, beef tenderloin, chicken with tomato salsa and a vegetarian option that will likely incorporate asparagus. It will be catered by Mason Jar from Benton Harbor.

Every year, about 30 percent of Cass County CASA’s budget comes from the auctions, said Ryder.

“Our operation is really a low-key operation,” she said. “We only have one and a half people on staff. We have a full-time person, which is myself and a part time person, which is our program coordinator, Erica Boulanger. The auction has nine different packages that will go up during the live auction.”

The packages include:

Chicago adventure, which includes a $500 Hilton Hotel gift certificate, $250 Broadway in Chicago gift certificate and tickets to the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Chicago River architecture tour.

• 100 bottles of craft beer.

• Escape rooms and dinner at Tippecanoe in South Bend, which include a visit to the escape room for up to ten people and a $500 dinner gift certificate.

• Michigan State University football ticket package, which includes tickets to MSU’s opening game against Utah and to their game against Northwestern University.

• Pontoon cruise and dinner on Diamond Lake, which includes a cruise on Diamond Lake and dinner hosted by Tom Swartz and Jeanne Jourdan for 10 people.

• Sunset cruise on Lake Michigan from Saugatuck, which includes a sailboat cruise on Lake Michigan for two and a two-night stay at the Hidden Garden Cottages and Suites.

• Four-night stay in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which includes accommodation at the Lodge Cabin and a $300 Dollywood gift certificate.

• Wine lovers, which includes more than 40 bottles of red and white wine, a temperature-controlled wine cooler and an assortment of wine glasses.

• Two-night stay at the Grand Hotel and golfing, which includes a free pass for two people to stay at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Hotel and four rounds of golf at the Jewel golf course.

“Probably one of our more popular ones is the Grand Hotel. … That’s always been a very popular one,” she said. This year, we were actually able to add to it four rounds of golf at their golf course called The Jewel. That’s an extra, added attraction.”

There will also be a raffle after the auction. For more information on the auction, visit CassCoCasa.org.