by Troy Smith
On Jan. 31, the Young Lawyers Section of the Jacksonville Bar Association teamed with Family Support Services of North Florida to sponsor this year’s Holidays-in-January project. As some of you may know, many foster children are placed in their new homes at the beginning of each year. Unfortunately, this means these children miss out on the Christmas festivities with their new families. Holidays-in-January is a project designed to celebrate the Christmas season with those foster children and their new families. Our goal is simple. . . to let those children know that Santa Claus did not forget them.
We use donations by The Florida Bar, local law firms and individuals to purchase gifts focusing on the childrens’ “wants” rather than their “needs.” Thanks to the strong response from our local legal community this year, nearly 40 children had their holiday wishes come true. Every participating child received a new bicycle and helmet, and left with a bag full of toys that included, portable CD players, boom boxes, Barbie dolls, footballs, gift certificates and other great toys. (Thanks to Wal-Mart for selling the bicycles to us at cost.) We also had donuts, bagels, coffee and juice for the children, their foster parents and our volunteers to enjoy while the kids were picking up their gifts.
We extend special thanks to Geddes Anderson (who helped organize the event and played the “Skinny Santa” shown in these pictures) and Tammy Butler (who also spent countless hours organizing the event and purchasing toys for the children). We also thank all the volunteers that helped pass out toys to the children. As I am sure they will all tell you, seeing the kids’ eyes light up made their time well worth it!
We also want to thank The Florida Bar and the following law firms and individuals that donated money to support this project: Ansbacher & McKeel, P.A.; Bartlett, Heekin & Smith, P.A., Bedell, Dittmar, Devault, Pillans & Coxe, P.A., Bledsoe, Jacobson, Schmidt, Roberson & Wright; Brennan, Manna & Diamond LLC; Camerlengo & Brockwell, P.L.; Carle A. Felton; Cooke & Meux, P.A.; Driver & McAfee, P.L.; Eraclides, Johns, Hall, Gelman Eikner & Johannessen, LLP; Foley & Lardner Attorneys at Law; Frank A. Lonegro; Obringer, DeCandio & Oosting, P.A.; Peek, Cobb, Edwards & Ashton, P.A.; Robert Cowles; Rogers Towers, P.A.; Smith Hulsey & Busey; and Spohrer, Wilner, Maxwell & Matthews, P.A. (Please accept my sincerest apologies if I missed any contributors.)
Holidays-in-January is an annual event sponsored by the Young Lawyers Section of the Jacksonville Bar. So if you are interested in helping out next year, please give us a call. We look forward to spreading the Holiday cheer next January!