Toledo Area Fundraising Initiatives
2024 Access to Justice Awards Dinner
Each year Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, and the Toledo Bar Association host the Access to Justice Awards Dinner and Ceremony to recognize extraordinary service in the public interest and community advocacy. Individuals and organizations in northwest Ohio are honored for their outstanding contributions to promoting and providing access to justice for underprivileged and underserved people.
Please save the date for Thursday, June 20 for this year’s dinner at The Pinnacle in Maumee. A VIP reception will kick off the festivities at 6:00 p.m., followed by a public reception at 6:30 p.m., with the dinner and awards ceremony starting at 7:00 p.m.
This year's featured keynote speaker is Erin Gruwell. Ms. Gruwell is a teacher, author, and education reform activist who has been fighting for social justice for over two decades.
If you have any questions regarding the Access to Justice Awards or are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact ABLE’s Regional Director of Development, Carmen Vega-Pérez, at (419) 930-2515 or cvega@ablelaw.org.
America holds close the ideal of equal justice for all, but all too often, justice is out of reach for many of its most vulnerable citizens. Civil legal aid steps in to ensure that this promise is made a reality for the thousands of individuals and families who need representation in the justice system, but could not otherwise afford an attorney. By giving to the Justice for All Campaign, you can make justice a reality for individuals and families in northwest Ohio.
The Justice for All Campaign is a fundraising partnership among
- Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE)
- Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. (LAWO) and
- The Toledo Bar Association (TBA) Pro Bono Legal Services Program.
As the sole providers of free civil legal aid to low-income residents of northwest Ohio, the Justice for All Campaign unites our fundraising efforts to ensure that vulnerable and disenfranchised members of our community have equal access to the legal system.
Each year, thousands of people in our community request legal help from LAWO, TBA Pro Bono, and ABLE. Through gifts from our friends and supporters in the Toledo legal community, we are able to provide life-changing assistance to victims of elder abuse, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and many families living, working, and raising their children in poverty who struggle to meet their day-to-day needs of housing, food, healthcare, or education for their children. But even though we served so many, there are still more who need our help, and we ask that you support us again this year.
Members of Our Community Need Your Help
Your investment in the Justice for All Campaign gives hope to our clients and creates stability in the community as their legal problems are resolved. Options for supporting the work of ABLE, the TBA Pro Bono Legal Services Program, and LAWO are as varied as the programs and services we offer. Whatever your interest—helping children, preventing homelessness, providing safety, rebuilding neighborhoods, protecting civil rights, providing for veterans—there is opportunity within this campaign.
When you support the Justice for All Campaign, you contribute to equal justice under the law – something we all care about.
For more information, please contact Carmen Vega-Pérez, Regional Director of Development at cvega@ablelaw.org.
2023 Justice for All Campaign
Campaign Co-Chairs
Steven P. Collier, Co-Chair
Collier Mediation, LLC
Susan Hartman Muska, Co-Chair
Law Office of Susan Hartman Muska
Cabinet Committee Members
Emily Desmond
ABLE
Heather Hall
ABLE
Maggie Humphrey
TBA
Bradley J. Lagusch
TBA
Andrew Miller
Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Kevin C. Mulder
LAWO
Gina Scherzer
TBA
Carmen Vega-Pérez
ABLE
Campaign Ambassadors
Cheryl Mendenhall
Allotta & Farley Co., LPA
Robert M. Anspach
Anspach Law
Margaret G. Beck
Brady, Coyle & Schmidt, Ltd.
Janelle Matuszak
Bugbee & Conkle, LLP
James E. Yavorcik
Cubbon & Associates Co., LPA
Adam S. Nightingale
Eastman & Smith Ltd.-Toledo
Jeffrey W. Swiech
Gallon, Takacs & Boissoneault Co., LPA
Christopher F. Parker
Goranson, Parker & Bella Co., LPA
Bruce S. Schoenberger
Gressley, Kaplan & Parker
Jay Feldstein
Liebenthal Levine, Ltd.
Gregory W. Robinette
MacMillan, Sobanski & Todd, LLC
Richard R. Malone
Malone, Ault & Farell
William J. Bingle
Maloney, McHugh & Kolodgy, Ltd.
Meghan Anderson Roth
Marshall & Melhorn, LLC
Karl Strauss
Owens Corning
Meredith S. Decker
ProMedica
Randall Engwert
Reminger Co., LPA
Peter N. Lavalette
RCO Law
Matthew J. Rohrbacher
Rohrbacher Cron Manahan Trimble & Zimmerman Co., LPA
Jack Kelly
Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Robert S. Salem
University of Toledo College of Law
Info on Your Charitable Donation
ABLE is a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
The ABLE Tax ID# is 23-7376131.