Gibney attorneys recognize their professional responsibility to serve the public interest through pro bono and community service activities. Our firm supports and gives credit to associates who take an active role to assist those with limited means. Our lawyers are encouraged to select their own pro bono and community service activities, including: serving as board members and trustees of educational, religious, non-profit and civic institutions; teaching as adjunct professors at local law schools; representing battered spouses and abandoned children in immigration proceedings; acting as mobile legal volunteers during elections; and assisting immigrants with the U.S. citizenship process.
Through the “Gibney for the Community” program, we match vacation time for employees who use their own vacation time to engage in worthy causes to serve the needs of the community.
“Gibney for the Community” Recent Projects
inMotion - Story by Story—Climbing to End Domestic Violence
Gibney's Pro Bono Committee participated in a unique fundraiser called, "Story by Story—Climbing to End Domestic Violence, " to benefit inMotion, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to battered women and children. Gibney employees were among nearly one thousand inMotion supporters coming together to climb the stairs of 1411 Broadway—a 42-story skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan's Fashion District and Times Square.
Gibney's team of attorneys and paralegals more than tripled their fundraising goal , and two members of Gibney’s team were among the first 100 people to reach the top.
For information on "Story by Story" please visit http://www.storybystory.org.
To visit Gibney’s team page, please see http://StorybyStory.kintera.org/stair-climb/gibney.
Gibney's "Story by Story" Team
Children's Hospital Boston
Gibney partner, Angelo E.P. Mazza, organized a raffle and silent auction in conjunction with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) to benefit the Children’s Hospital Boston. On Monday, July 26, 2010, Angelo proudly donated $13,760 to the hospital on behalf of the IACC. Funds will benefit children and their families receiving care.
Children’s Hospital Boston employs 963 active medical and dental staff as well as 897 residents and fellows, 1,570 nursing and clinical personnel and 5,200 other full and part time employees. They also have a diverse, trained team of more than 800 volunteers.
For more information on Children’s Hospital Boston please visit: http://www.childrenshospital.org/.
For more information on the IACC please visit: http://www.iacc.org
Pictured are John Cassillo (RIAA), 2010 IACC Spring Conference Co-Chair, Linda Barchiesi, Bob Barchiesi, IACC President, Angelo Mazza and Tara Hardimon, Children’s Hospital Boston. Missing from the picture are Lisa Rogan (Acushnet Company) and Vanessa Backman (Apple), 2010 IACC Spring Meeting Co-Chairs.
AILA’s Citizenship Day
Immigration attorneys Trisha Yukawa, Rosanna Fox and Amy McCoy participated in the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) Citizenship Day. With clinics in New York City’s five boroughs and Long Island, free legal aid was provided to legal permanent residents applying for citizenship. Eligible applicants had their naturalization applications prepared at no cost and free advice was offered to others. The clinics in New York City were co-sponsored by the CUNY Citizenship Now! Project and are a part of Immigrant Heritage Week.
For more information on AILA please visit www.aila.org
For more information on the CUNY Citizenship Now! Project please visit www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship.html
House of Family Orphanage
Spending approximately a week and a half in Cambodia, Immigration Paralegal, Laura Wolfe worked as a volunteer English teacher for children aged six through twelve living in the House of Family Orphanage. The orphanage houses approximately 70 children whose parents died of AIDS and provides them with shelter, medical care and a basic education. The majority of children in residence are HIV+ as well. House of Family’s funding is from a Slovakian organization so the children are learning Slovak & English on top of their native Khmer. Ms. Wolfe’s placement was organized in cooperation with the Cambodian NGO STAR Kampuchea. For more information please visit: http://www.starkampuchea.org.kh/
The Farmer Solidarity Project
Immigration paralegal Lina Rodriguez recently returned from a ten-day service trip to Guatemala, organized by the Farmer Solidarity Project. In conjunction with CONIC, a social movement organization that fights for land reform, food sovereignty, and campesino and indigenous rights, Rodriguez and other volunteers visited with poverty stricken communities in the mountainous Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala to help plant trees and build stoves with proper ventilation.
Street Soccer U.S.A.
Immigration attorney Filomena Lepore and Immigration paralegal Joycelyn Carandang have been working to obtain replacement green cards for homeless immigrant soccer players involved with Street Soccer U.S.A. The organization seeks to improve the lives of homeless adults through a competitive soccer league that provides mentoring, structure, fellowship and hope. Carandang recently served as team guide for the New York City Street Soccer team when it traveled to Washington, D.C. to compete in the U.S.A. Street Soccer cup. For more information on Street Soccer U.S.A., go to: http://www.streetsoccerusa.org/.