During the month of April, lunch customers at olio on East Bay Street can score a deal on an entrée and at the same time help a worthy cause in the legal community.
Each Tuesday through April 24, owner and chef Greg DeSanto is offering a 50-cent discount on the restaurant’s fish, shrimp, chicken or carnitas tacos.
He’ll make a like donation for each entrée ordered to Voices for Children of the First Coast to support the Guardian ad Litem program in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
“Ad litem” is a term used in law to refer to the appointment by a court of one party to act in a lawsuit on behalf of another party who is deemed incapable of representing himself or herself.
The Guardian ad Litem program exists to recruit, train and support volunteers to advocate for the interests of children who are alleged to be neglected, abused or abandoned and who are involved in court proceedings.
“When a child enters the dependency court, the state is represented by a State Attorney and the parents usually have an attorney. The judge often seeks an unbiased opinion,” said John Daigle, who serves on the board of directors for Voices for Children, a volunteer nonprofit organization that recruits, trains and certifies participants for the Guardian ad Litem program in the State Attorney’s Office.
He said the volunteers spend time with the parents and children and in some cases visit the family’s neighbors.
“We gather information that could be useful to the court in determining what happens to the child,” Daigle said.
“It’s a very complex process. We see ourselves as sometimes the only party speaking on behalf of the child,” he said.
DeSanto said he learned about the program from some of his regular lunch customers who work across the street in the Courthouse Annex.
“I love cooking,” he said. “Being able to do it and also help an organization do what it does — it can’t get any better than that.”
For more details, visit voicesforchildrenjax.org and oliomarket.com.
356-2466