By Adam Brandolph
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A state program that sought to help struggling Pennsylvania residents endure the crisis of home foreclosures and declining bank accounts ended Friday.
In its wake, a new initiative provides legal services to emergency first responders.
First Lady Michelle Obama in June called on Americans to pursue public service in honor of Sept. 11, 2001. Gov. Ed Rendell and his wife, federal Judge Marjorie Rendell, decided to focus Pennsylvania’s efforts on the needs of people having trouble in the recession.
The Get Help Now Pennsylvania program provided financial counseling to about 800 people across the state beginning in July. More than 1,000 legal and financial professionals volunteered twice a week, giving a combined 5,000 hours of service, officials said. The 10-week program ended on the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
“This was a truly creative way to reach out to citizens to give them the immediate help they need,” said Cliff Haines, president of the Pennsvlvania Bar Association, which sponsored the program.
“It is heartening to see people here in Pittsburgh sharing their skills to help their neighbors in such an important way,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who joined Rendell in the lobby of the City-County Building. “President Obama asked all Americans to make meaningful community service a part of their lives and people are answering that call.”
Rendell announced the new program, Wills for Heroes, as a way to ensure the families of first responders were taken care of.
Wills for Heroes is an initiative of the Bar Association’s young lawyer division that provides legal documents, including wills and powers of attorney, free of charge to police officers, paramedics and firefighters.
“Every time they respond to any exigent circumstances, that could be the time they perish,” Rendell said.
The program already has provided services to more than 500 emergency responders in Pennsylvania, he said.
Copyright 2009 Tribune Review Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved