Volunteer Spotlight

Cindy Beckman

CASA Volunteer since 2016

Cindy Beckman was born in Seaside Oregon but only lived in Seaside until she was 5 years old. Her father was a forester for Crown Zellerbach and was transferred to Clallam Bay, WA and then Longview WA where she was raised until her junior year of high school. Her family returned to Seaside, Oregon where she then graduated from Seaside High School. After High School Cindy went to college at the University of Oregon, she then lived in Texas, Michigan, and California. Her first husband worked for Ross Perot doing computer programming and as a young couple their hobby was training dogs for police search and rescue organizations. Sadly, her first husband passed away due to cancer when she was in her late twenties. After his passing Cindy knew she wanted to come back to the coast. Having lived in numerous other States, nothing drew her home like the beach, the mountains, and the ocean air. An added benefit was that her brother and his family lived in Astoria.

Cindy met her current husband when they were in high school. He went to Beaverton High School and would come to Seaside to commercial fish in the summers. Many years later they reconnected, married and 30 years later they now have three beautiful children, and four lovely grandchildren. Currently all her adult children and grandchildren are living locally.

When Cindy returned to the Oregon coast, she found it challenging to decide what to pursue as an occupation that would sustain her family. There was a small seafood restaurant for sale in Cannon Beach, even though she had no restaurant experience in 1993, Ecola Seafood and the Beckman family began their journey as a family operated restaurant and seafood market. Ecola Seafood is one of the premier restaurants to eat fresh local seafood and if you visit Cannon Beach, it is worth waiting in the line that often goes out the front doors as locals and visitors await the “best seafood on the coast.”

When Cindy is not working, you can usually find her doing something with her family or with the youth in our community. As her children were growing up, she would help in the classroom or volunteer at sporting events. She saw many youth and families struggling, and her home was always open for kids to come over to bake cookies, sit and talk, ride quads/motorcycles, or work on schoolwork. Because of her experience of seeing children in the community struggle whether it be not having a stable family, enough food, or support in their schoolwork, this led her to want to help others. One specific youth, who struggled with mental health and substance abuse issues inspired her to become a CASA. She met him when he was fifteen and became like a son to her. Unfortunately, he passed away in his late twenties due to his struggles. Cindy believes that most of his issues stemmed from his family trauma during his youth. She often wonders if he would have had a better chance of becoming a productive, happy adult if any one circumstance had been looked at differently.

When Cindy began her CASA training in 2016, she had no idea what being an advocate for children would look like. She saw a Facebook post about Clatsop CASA and the need for volunteers and thought it was something she could do to help support our youth in our community. We are so thankful that Cindy was scrolling Facebook that day and responded to that post!

The best part of her advocacy is when the children she is advocating for find permanent placements in stable homes. When parents follow through with things that help put them in a better place to be strong parents it is wonderful to witness the outcome of seeing a family come back together. The most difficult part of her advocacy was to see a youth she had advocated for who was in the foster care system and struggled with all the feelings of wanting a stable home then when she became an adult she lost her own child to the child welfare system.

Cindy has witnessed the disappointment and pain of a child losing their biological parents but also has witnessed the true joy when that child finds unconditional love and support from someone else who takes them in as their own child. And she says that “no matter how much I try to be objective and look at facts, it is hard to not truly care about the welfare of both the adults and the children I advocate for.”

For Cindy, the most gratifying part of being a CASA is knowing that she is part of a team that is making a difference in the life of a child. When she hears months or years later from one of her CASA kids or parents that they are in a wonderful place.

What Cindy did not expect as a CASA is the amount of time she spends communicating with ODHS and the attorney’s involved in her cases. Oftentimes she has found that the child, or foster parent or other parties will discuss something with her that is important but should not wait for a court report to be written which is why early on in the case Cindy does a wonderful job establishing her relationships with other legal parties to the case.

If Cindy could give anyone advice who is considering becoming a CASA volunteer she would say, “Do it! It can be frustrating at times, due to the slow speed that things happen, but it is worth it! The CASA office is exceptional and always willing to help and give advice. Do not hesitate to discuss any concerns or as for suggestions.”

We have so much gratitude for Cindy Beckman, she has accomplished so much throughout her life, as a mom, wife, business owner and CASA volunteer. Thank you, Cindy, for everything you bring to your work and life, you are so valuable!