What our Lawyers do during the Holiday Season

In the Spirit of the Holidays and as an indication of Barron and Posternock's continuing dedication to community service, Dan Posternock and his son Josh are both participating in the St. Bernard's Project in New Orleans, LA between Christmas and New Years. More information is contained in the attached article from this week's Burlington County Times.

Associate Melanie Levan volunteers at the Food Bank of South Jersey and is the 2010 chair for the Mary E. Roberts Home and School Association. Additionally, Business Manager Lori Sacalis and partner Tom Barron helped at the Burlington County Bar Foundations' Annual Holiday party for disadvantaged children earlier this month. The firm also contributes toys which are given out by Santa during the fun-filled event.

Throughout the year, we welcome our clients involvement in our other charitable endeavors such as the MS Walk in May, and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Delran in June. Keep an eye for opportunities to join us!

-Lori Sacalis

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Inspiration from a hero
By: KRISTEN COPPOCK Burlington County Times
MOORESTOWN - Nationally recognized humanitarian Liz McCartney visited Tuesday with local teenagers interested in community service. At Moorestown High School, teenagers listened to CNN's 2008 hero of the year talk about her efforts to assist people still affected by 2005's Hurricane Katrina and viewed "before" and "after" photographs of the damaged homes. The presentation served as a preview for some of the students.

About 14 teenagers from Moorestown and Camden are joining a 33-member volunteer party headed to the New Orleans region during their holiday break from school. Organized by Moorestown resident Randy Cherkas and Ron Green, pastor of New Life Ministries in Camden, the group will assist in the rebuilding of damaged houses.
"It's an American problem," Green said. "Hopefully we'll do this every year until we don't need to anymore."

Both men's teenage sons will accompany them on the trip. Green, who brought four Camden teenagers to hear McCartney speak in Moorestown,said he's hoping the trip will teach the students skills they can bring back and use at home. He said he also was inspired by his mother-in-law to join forces with Cherkas. The woman lived most of her life in New Orleans' 9th Ward,which was devastated by the hurricane. Green said the tragedy forced her to move to New Jersey. "She lost everything," he said.
McCartney's goal is to help people like Green's relative. She co-founded the St. Bernard Project in March 2006. The charitable organization's mission is to assist families that lost their homes to Katrina in New Orleans and its Louisiana suburbs in St. Bernard Parish. So far, 252 families have moved back into homes that were renovated through the project. Another 50 homes are being worked on and many renovations are planned.

"In New Orleans there are still over 2,000 people that live in (Federal Emergency Management Agency) trailers," McCartney told the students. "We feel like people deserve to live in homes." McCartney and her boyfriend, St. Bernard Project co-founder Zack Rosenburg, initially traveled to Louisiana with the intention of assisting in the cleanup effort for a few weeks. But after seeing firsthand the extent of the devastation, the couple decided to stay. In an interview, McCartney said she wanted to talk to the Moorestown students about the St. Bernard Project and show them the challenges being faced in the New Orleans region."We're here because there's still a lot of work to do," said McCartney, a former Peace Corps volunteer.
The visit was hosted by the high school's Interact Club, the youth arm of the community service organization Rotary International. Faculty adviser Lewis Lazarow said seeing and hearing about real-life situations often inspire students to act.
Contact: kcoppock@phillyBurbs.com or 609-871-8073