Lafayette County Deputies Join CASA Superhero Run to Support Child Advocacy

Three Lafayette County Sheriff's Office deputies joined the CASA Superhero 5K and Kids Fun Run Saturday morning at Avent Park in Oxford, adding their badges to one of the year's most visible fundraisers for the county's abused and neglected children.

Deputy Fuller, Lt. Grantham, and Deputy Morgan represented the Sheriff's Office on the course. Photos captured the trio at the event, and a post from the morning captured the spirit of the outing: "We had a great time participating in the CASA Superhero run this morning!"

The run is one of the largest annual fundraisers for CASA of North Mississippi, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. The Oxford-based nonprofit trains and places community volunteers inside youth court proceedings to argue for the best interests of children who have been abused or neglected, with the goal of landing every child in a safe and permanent home.

The race's superhero framing is both theme and thesis. CASA of North Mississippi has built its Superhero Run around the idea that every child needs a hero, but abused and neglected children need a superhero, and participants are encouraged to arrive in costume, turning the Avent Park course into a procession of community advocates in capes and masks.

For the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office, Saturday's run placed deputies directly alongside the volunteers who sometimes pick up the cases law enforcement brings to court's attention. The two institutions serve different roles in Lafayette County's child welfare system, but their presence at the same starting line reflects a shared stake in where those cases end.