News Article
Womble Participates in Hands-On Atlanta Service Juris Day
July 3, 2007
Twenty volunteers from the Atlanta office joined hundreds from the legal community for a day of volunteering during the annual Hands-On Atlanta Service Juris Day on Saturday, June 30th. The project site for this year’s Service Juris was the historic Vine City neighborhood, located west of downtown Atlanta and in major need of revitalization. Vine City, one of Atlanta's earliest predominantly African-American neighborhoods, was the home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Julian Bond, and Alonzo Herndon, founder of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company.
Womble's team project was to help refurbish the Ballard home in Vine City, home of two senior citizen sisters, aged 87 and 92. The team was involved in landscaping the front yard, clearing out the back yard which had grown to be a jungle (kudos to the guys for a job well done on that one), painting, and dry wall installation. Womble worked with lawyers and staff from Hunton & Williams and Kutak Rock on the project, and the end result was fantastic! The team was able to meet the two sisters, as well as a grandson and great grandson who visited the project site.
Many thanks to Jennifer Collins and Ashley Smith, who served on the Service Juris Board and coordinated Womble Carlyle's project. Thanks also to additional members of Womble's volunteer team, including Leandre Anthony, Michael Cicero and family, Jeff Collins, Guanming Fang, Jill Girardeau, Chris Kelly, Josh Lewis, Collier McRae, Keith Montgomery, Kay Newman, John Perry, Gail Spielman, Charlie Tanksley, Jahnisa Tate, Lanie Taylor, Rob Thompson, Diane West, and Esther Yu.
This project marked the Atlanta office’s second Womble Cares event, part of an employee volunteer program which creates opportunities for Womble attorneys, staff, clients and friends to give back to their communities and make a difference. The inaugural Womble Cares project was the Striking Back at Cancer Bowl-a-thon on May 22, 2007, which raised more than $13,000 for the American Cancer Society. Upcoming Womble Cares events include the American Heart Association Heart Walk on November 3rd and the Atlanta Children’s Coalition Holiday Toy Drive beginning after Thanksgiving.
