MBF Fellows Support Important Work for Our Courts and Citizens

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Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy will never forget that day in a Montgomery County Courtroom where, as a young Assistant District Attorney, she was observing a sexual abuse trial and the victim, a seven-year-old girl, got ready to step down from the witness stand after testifying. The little girl looked around the courtroom, took a breath, and bravely walked past the defense table where her mother sat with her boyfriend that the little girl had just implicated with her testimony. As she walked down the courtroom aisle, all alone, seeing a sympathetic face, she simply sat down near that Assistant District Attorney who had the sudden, painful realization that the little girl thought she had no one else in that courtroom on her side.

If that happened today, a Montgomery Child Advocacy Project (MCAP) advocate would be there with that young victim, to hold her hand, to offer her a seat in the courtroom, explain what was happening and to advocate on her behalf. MCAPS are lawyers who volunteer their time to advocate for child victims of abuse, neglect and trafficking in the courtrooms every day. The Montgomery Child Advocacy Project professional staff vets the MCAPS, trains them how to represent the children, introduces them to victims who need their help and advocates for an end to child abuse and neglect.

MCAP has MBA past President Mary Pugh as its Executive Director, and former Montgomery County Detective Mary Anders as Deputy Executive Director. Staff Attorneys Sharon Jones Hofer, Eileen Schaeffer and Angie Polizzi and Program Coordinator Patricia Teaford round out the office team. They are assisted by 125 volunteer lawyers from the Montgomery Bar Association who meet with the child victims, help investigate their cases, attend court dates with them, explain what’s going on in age-appropriate ways, and make sure their voices and their concerns are clearly heard in the courtroom.

If you can, consider volunteering with MCAP to help them do this important and often unappreciated work. If you can’t spare the time, then remember that you can support MCAP and other non-profit organizations who support justice and fair treatment for all in and outside our courts by contributing to the Montgomery Bar Foundation.

The organizations your Montgomery Bar Foundation contributions support are often overlooked. Most people will never experience a sexual abuse trial, thankfully, and might never even be inside a Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas courtroom. Most people in Montgomery County will never need to know that the Women’s Center of Montgomery County, the Senior Law Center and Laurel House exist, but, as an example, if someone needs help with a domestic violence event and a sudden need for safe housing, Laurel House is there and never too far away.

The Montgomery Bar Foundation, with your contributions, has supported these organizations and others like Your Way Home, which works to help those suddenly homeless find affordable housing, and Legal Aid of Southeastern PA which provides free, civil, legal help to those who need it and cannot afford it.

These are not big national nonprofit organizations, but they are often serving people in and around Montgomery County with pro bono legal services and other essential help so that all see justice and fairness. By all means, if you can, volunteer as a pro bono attorney to help an organization like this do its work. If you can’t, become an MBA Fellow or just make a contribution to the Montgomery Bar Foundation so that, with your fellow members of the Montgomery Bar Association, we can work together to make sure this important work happens and there is fairness and justice for all. Our grants are not huge, but we do what we can, and with your help, we can do even more.

MBA Members can enroll in the MBA Fellows Program, or make a payment towards an existing Fellows contribution right on the MBA website. By joining the regular Fellows Program, you agree to contribute a minimum of $250.00 per year for five (5) years, or contribute a total amount of $1,250.00. Younger lawyers have a more affordable alternative. MBA Members who belong to the Young Lawyers Section are eligible to join our new Young Lawyers Fellows Program for just $10 per month. To recognize this, all MBA Fellows are given a special designation on their nametags at MBA events.

We have the ability to make grants to appropriate organizations from our investment earnings as well, but there’s no doubt that the MBA Fellows keep the Foundation and a few of its grantees going. Please join us. No seven-year-old should ever have to be all alone in one of our courtrooms.