LEGAL NEWS PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA PRICE
Photo 1: A large group volunteered at Harrison Park School, helping out in the library. Second from left is attorney Tom Baker, team leader.
Photo 2: Kathy Brower, Executive Director of SECOM, with husband Bob Brower, a long-time Miller Johnson attorney
Photo 3: Kelly Fischer of Miller Johnson Human Resources, front center, coordinated the logistics for the day of service.
Photo 4: Legal secretaries Amy Westrate, left, and Jamie Vos flank accounting department’s Denise DeVries while doing warehouse duty at SECOM.
Photo 5: Attorney Ken Hofman talks with a senior at Walker Community Center as Miller Johnson personnel set the table for lunch in the background.
Photo 6: Attorneys Greg Ripple and Raj Malviya painted at SECOM.
by Cynthia Price
Legal News
“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve.”
These words of Martin Luther King have inspired countless people to celebrate his birthday by devoting their time to community service, and Miller Johnson has joined those ranks for five years now.
This year, 151 attorney and staff volunteers performed a variety of community services at Beacon Hill at Eastgate, Blandford Nature Center, DA Blodgett, Harrison Park Elementary (Challenge Scholars Program), Pine Rest, South End Community Outreach Ministry (SECOM), Senior Neighbors in Walker and Sparta, and the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission.
Probably the busiest site was Harrison Park School, where Miller Johnson employees went through the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school’s library and, using a website, categorized each book by grade/reading level. Five separate groups around the school, including one large one in the library itself, were able to make excellent progress on the task.
Harrison Park is the main site for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s Challenge Scholars program, according to Coordinator Gwen Heatley, who was on-site during the project. GRCF has guaranteed that each Harrison Park student who graduates from Union High School, starting with the class of 2020, will have funding to attend college if he or she chooses.
Heatley says that the foundation wisely realized that there is a lot more that goes into success at college than just having the money to attend. They hired her to coordinate programs that ready the students academically and socially, along with, most importantly, their parents.
Parents started meeting as one large group but over time that has broken out into eight, based on interest and need. Through those meetings and a variety of other programs, parents learn what it will take to support their children as they go through school. Since about half of the children are from Latino families, the program addresses the host of challenges with language, as well as holding meetings and producing materials in both Spanish and English.
According to Heatley, one of the most pleasant surprises has been the willingness of colleges and universities to provide resources and support for the students from a young age. Aquinas College’s Juan Olivarez and the University of Michigan Alumni Club have been especially helpful.
The Challenge Scholars initiative will spread to Westwood School starting this year. Heatley emphasizes that it has been a “trial and error” process, from which the second school will benefit.
Another large group went to SECOM on Buchanan. With SECOM, there was an easy connection:Miller Johnson attorney Bob Brower’s wife, Katherine Brower, is the Executive Director of the nonprofit that serves immediate and long-term needs of residents facing economic challenges.
SECOM runs a food pantry and makes referrals to resources for utility assistance and other economic help; provides nutrition and exercise education and health screenings; and, like the Challenge Scholars, works with parents to help them help their children succeed in school.
The Miller Johnson folks painted, took clients through the food pantry, and organized and stocked food items. Attorney Matt Vicari, who never seems to mind the cold, filled shelves in the freezers and performed other outdoorsy tasks, although even the warehouse volunteers found themselves in low-temperature conditions.
A somewhat smaller crew made the trip out to the Walker Senior Neighbor Center, on Lake Michigan Drive. Senior Neighbors is “dedicated to promoting independent living for adults 60 years and older... and providing essential services that help seniors remain independent...”
The focus on health and wellness needs also leads to programming that facilitates these seniors having fun, and Monday was no exception. The Miller?Johnson team helped with crafts such as creating fancy valentines, and prepared for the delicious lunch served at noon, including setting the table.
In addition, attorney and bingo master extraordinaire Ken Hofman led the seniors through a rousing set of games. Afterwards, he reflected with more seriousness, “One of the main reasons I chose Miller Johnson almost three decades ago was the culture of giving back to the community encouraged by John Cummiskey. I remember attending the firm’s picnic years ago and hearing him talk about how much it meant to him to see all the volunteer time people at the picnic had put in, and it was one of the most moving things I’ve ever heard.”
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