LIVINGSTON - Many of the cyclists leaving Livingston for the last 56-mile leg of CASA of Montana's five-day, 400-mile Park-2-Park fundraising trip Friday morning said they were doing it because they believed in the cause.

CASA is a nonprofit organization that provides court advocates for abused and neglected children. Many of the 40 or so cyclists hail from law enforcement agencies and said they'd seen first hand the effects of mistreatment.

"I believe in the organization," said Joe Bryce, a former Billings police officer and CASA board member participating in the ride for the fourth year. "I've seen the abuse that kids go through through no fault of their own."

CASA, through its 15 local affiliates across the state, serves more than 900 children, director Ellen Bush said.

Much of their work is done by volunteers, also known as CASA/GALs (Guardians Ad Litem), who are "like guardian angels," Bozeman police detective Mary Ann Rangistch, who participated in this year's ride, said Friday.

The volunteer's job is to determine how and why a child was abused, Rangistch said. For example, if a father has been charged with violently shaking an infant, the volunteer will try to determine whether the child was insufficiently protected by the mother, or if the child needs to be removed from the home.

The CASA/GALs spend hours with family members to make those determinations and will stick with that child until they are 18 years old.

"They almost become part of that family," Rangistch said.

One of the riders who made the trip from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone National Park this week had personal reasons for supporting the organization.

Stacie Pannell, 39, grew up in Anaconda and said she was abused by a relative. But she never really had any help.

In fact, she never even spoke about it until recently, she said.

"I want people to know that there are people out there whose sole purpose is to look out for the welfare of children and protect them from harm," Pannell said donning her cycling gear before taking the saddle Friday morning. "Children need to know that there are people out there to protect them.

"I'd just like to think that if I had had a CASA volunteer, I would have been strong enough to fight for freedom from the abuse."

With encouragement from Rangistch, her childhood friend, Pannell began telling her story publicly two summers ago, she said. This was their third CASA ride together.

This year, the riders hope to raise $50,000 and had reached over $40,000 as of Friday morning, Bush said. Last year the ride raised $47,000.

"I recognize the funding that is needed to keep volunteers coming back to help the children," Rangistch, who specializes in crimes against children, said.

Pannell, of Billings, is married with two children. She was an obstetrics nurse, but has taken time off to be a mom, she said.

She said some years ago Rangistch convinced her to tell her story to police. At that point, she felt very vulnerable, but did it to protect other children.

"There's shame," she said. "There's always going to be shame. I know it wasn't my fault, but I'm not 100 percent certain all the time."

Since giving her deposition, though, she's been more public about her story because she believes that by speaking out she can help.

"My goal is to reach the girls who are still there," Pannell said. "I know that through my story, other people can be inspired to be healthy and whole and not be held back in life because they were abused."

Jodi Hausen can be reached at jhausen@dailychronicle.com or 582-2630.

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