Austin, Texas

Office Komen Walkers Raise More Funds

Members of the Linebarger Goggan Catch Us If You Can walking team raised more than $9,400 dollars in 2011. The team raised approximately $9,200 in 2010 so it was quite an accomplishment for the whole team especially since the Komen Foundation has been hit hard with the difficulties of the economy. The Austin office used different strategies this year to raise funds including auctioning parking spaces, daring individuals to participate in Karaoke at the holiday party, and other efforts. Team Captain Peggy Barnett said she enjoyed working with all the walkers for the 2011 fundraising season and was proud of the work accomplished.

Dallas, Texas

Partner Receives AKA Image Award

Partner DeMetris Sampson has been honored as the recipient of the 25th Alpha Kappa Alpha Image Award. AKA’s 2012 Image Award Celebration – themed, “Empowering Young Leaders through Timeless Service” – was held on March 17, 2012 in Dallas, benefiting scholarships and noteworthy community projects. The Legacy of Service Foundation, fundraising arm of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Omicron Mu Omega Chapter, presented DeMetris with the Image Award for the significant impact she has made on our community. This is a well-deserved honor bestowed upon our own distinguished recipient. We commend her for the tremendous, positive effect – past and present – that she has had on our valued community.

Members of Dallas & San Antonio Offices participate in 3-Day Walk for a Cure

An avid marathoner, Partner Beth Weller met a personal challenge this past November to participate in the 3-Day Walk for a Cure benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. Beth was inspired by three people close to her who have fought this dreadful disease. She was a member of a team they christened the “Boxing Babes” (“knocking out breast cancer one mile at a time”). She walked for her “honored heroes,” paying tribute to six women who succumbed to this terrible cancer, but also for 17 survivors.

Sporting festive race attire, including both a tutu and the names of her honorees, Beth set out on the 60-mile journey and met her personal goal. Ultimately, Beth was able to raise over $2,500 for the walk, with her team raising a collective $150,000. Overall, the Dallas-Fort Worth event raised a total of $7.2 Million. She is already registered and ready to “walk for a cure” next year.

Although Beth was not aware at the time, one of her fellow members of the “Boxing Babes” Team happened to be the sister of Donna Stein, Litigation Assistant in the San Antonio Office. Donna herself participated in the event as a “walker stalker,” providing in-the-field support for the team on their 3-day journey.

Worthy Cause Supported by Dallas Office

On April 21, 2012, individuals, family, and friends from the Dallas office joined a worthwhile cause and participated in the March of Dimes (March for Babies) Walk at White Rock Lake. The Dallas Office team of 23 was known as “Alexavier-Rolando-Ryan-&Temperance.” The team name was designated in honor and in memory (Rolando) one of the young children of some of our Dallas Office employees, including Partner, Bridget Moreno Lopez, and the twin nephews of a former Dallas VOE student, Juan Herrera. A special thank you goes to Bliss Verduzco, Dallas Courier, for forming this team. Every year more than half a million babies are born prematurely. The March of Dimes makes it their mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature births, and infant mortality.

Bankruptcy Partner gives time for meaningful cause

Partner Laurie Huffman was elected to a second three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for PSP | CBD and Related Brain Diseases (“Cure PSP”). Among the many missions of the foundation is to increase awareness of PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy) and CBD (corticobasal degeneration). Being a member of this Board is full of meaning for Laurie, as her mother was stricken with PSP, which ultimately took her life in 2008.

In 2010, her mother’s DNA, which was previously harvested from the tissue that Laurie and her sister donated to the Mayo Clinic’s Brain Bank in Jacksonville, Florida, was used in an international research study that involved mapping the genome of people who have had PSP. This study yielded a wealth of information about the disease that will be used in future research projects to develop treatments and someday a cure for the disease. The findings from this study will be published in an article being published this month.

Laurie is also a facilitator of an On Line Support Group for the Children of PSP Patients. The group is funded and organized by Cure PSP, and it provides support to individuals who are unable to attend a face-to-face support group meeting because one is not available in their area or for other reasons. The support group has reached participants from as far away as Saudi Arabia.

Fort Worth , Texas

Staff Support HIV/AIDS Non-Profit Organization During Joe’s Run

In March 2012, the Samaritan House held its annual Joe’s Run was on a Saturday morning. Many Fort Worth employees and their families participated in the run which is a fundraiser for Samaritan House, an organization that provides much needed housing and resources for positive change in the lives of persons living with HIV/AIDS and other special needs. Samaritan House, located in Fort Worth, is a Texas non-profit, 501 (c) 3 agency providing valuable services for people in the Fort Worth area for 20 years. Proceeds from Joe’s Run will be used to support Samaritan House where services are geared to rescue, nurture and launch people toward healthier and more independent lives. At any one time, more than 400 people are housed and served through Samaritan House and its programs, both individuals and families with children.

Employees Take Sixth Graders to Tarrant County Court

Fort Worth Office employees organized a learning opportunity for sixth graders in Fort Worth ISD through participating in district’s Vital Link Program. Vital Link Program is a weeklong, half-day internship program designed to demonstrate the connection between what is learned in the classroom and what is needed for success in the workplace. The program is free and offered to Fort Worth ISD sixth grade students who will be entering the seventh grade in the fall. This year was the Fort Worth office’s first time to participate. Attorney C. Corey Fickes designed a week long program that consisted of taking nine students to the monthly Court docket in Tarrant County along with visits to Commissioner Roy Brook’s office, Ron Wright, Tax Assessor Collector’s office, Tom Wilder, District Clerk’s office and Mary Louise Garcia, County Clerk’s office.

Houston, Texas

Fulshear Honors Firm with Award

In 2011, the City of Fulshear had a breakfast honoring businesses and individuals who have served the City and its events during 2010. The Firm’s Houston office received one of the Community Spirit Awards for the second year in a row.

Firm Gift Supports Special Project

The HISD Foundation announced that it received a $100,000 gift from Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP in support of HISD’s Apollo 20 Project. The Apollo 20 Project benefits struggling Houston ISD students by providing them with a more intense school schedule and tutoring. The program also has raised test scores and attendance, while decreasing disciplinary referrals among its participants.

Office Participates in Houston Bar Foundation Spring Clothing and Diaper Drive

The Houston office was graciously able to participate in the Houston Bar Association and Foundation’s Campaign for the Homeless Committee’s Spring Children’s Clothing and Diaper Drive. Linebarger Goggan was one of 126 Houston law firms that donated for the worthy cause providing items of clothing and diapers for young residents in shelters and other community programs.

Houston Partners with Blackshear/Jones Elementary School

In 2010, the firm entered into a business partnership with Blackshear/Jones Elementary School picking up where we left off with our J. Will Jones partnership. The robust partnership enjoys the participation of as many as 16 volunteers who assist weekly in the 21st Century After School Program working with the students in the homework room and in the enrichment classes.

For the first six weeks of the program, the law firm volunteered 65.75 hours of time to Blackshear/Jones Elementary. In addition, the law firm donated much needed, brand new uniforms, backpacks and other school supplies.

Elementary Students Get Valuable Music Lessons from Stolar

Partner Leah Stolar taught music both in the Fall of 2010 and the Spring 2011 semester in the after school program at HISD’s Blackshear Elementary. The fall semester was a music appreciation class with children in kindergarten through the 3rd grade. In the spring semester, Leah taught 2nd and 3rd graders how to play the recorder and read and write music notation. Ultimately, they were able to perform seven songs as a group and solos. Leah said it was very challenging since the school offers no music program so everything she taught was new to the students but they loved playing the recorder which she provided for the children in five different translucent colors.

Longview, Texas

Bowl-A-Thon Fundraiser a Great Success

In 2011, the Longview Office participated in Junior Achievement’s Bowl-A-Thon. Junior Achievement is an organization that prepares young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it; how to create jobs that make their communities more robust; and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. The Longview office has been a longtime supporter of JA of Longview, and Partner John Bolster has taught a JA class for over 15 years. Longview staff won the first round of competition in the bowl-a-thon. During the event, the Longview staff helped raise almost $13,000 for Junior Achievement of East Texas.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Firm Participates in CREW Lunch/Auction Event and Job Shadowing

In April 2012, Linebarger Goggan was proud to support CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Philadelphia’s Luncheon with the Leaders Charity Auction. This event supported fundraising efforts to provide scholarships to local women pursuing real estate-related degrees at Philadelphia-area universities. Also in April, Sharon Humble, Managing Partner of Linebarger Goggan and President of CREW Philadelphia, along with Linebarger employees Laura Evans and Anita Gonzalez and Emily Bittenbender, President of Bittenbender Construction, hosted a group of seniors from the Charter High School of Architecture and Design for a morning of job-shadowing. At noon, all of the CREW Philadelphia mentors and mentees got together for a luncheon in their honor at the Mission Grill, sponsored by the firm.

Community Service Beautifies Neighborhood and Benefits Local Area

The Philadelphia Office participated in the 2011 Annual Philly Spring Clean-up, helping pick up and plant pansies in flower boxes along a neighborhood business corridor in the City. In other news, the Philadelphia Office was proud to donate over $5,000 worth of office furniture, including desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and cork boards, to the Logan Community Development Corporation to help outfit its new office located at 5201 Old York Road. Logan CDC’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for residents and businesses through a broad range of revitalization efforts, including transformative community and economic development, commercial corridor and affordable housing development, and community-focused education and organizing.

San Antonio, Texas

Father and Son Work Together on Eagle Scout Project

Ford Douglass and his father Clif (LGB&S MC Chair, who is also a Boy Scout troop leader), worked together on Ford's Eagle Scout project, providing McGruff Safe Kids ID’s to over 100 children. The McGruff Safe Kids ID’s provide an easy-to-use fingerprint identification system and, most importantly, valuable and timely safety information for families with children. Research has shown that when children are missing, it is helpful for parents and police to have fingerprints, vital statistics, and a current photo on hand, all of which the ID’s provide.

Staff Mentor Youth as Big Sisters/Brothers

Thank you to our 23 employees who have spent two consecutive years mentoring the same student in their key transitional period from 8th grade to 9th grade, and for making the commitment to be their mentors in 2013. They have made a difference in the lives of young people who need them most. The firm and these employees are leading an example for other companies and their employees to follow. San Antonio Mayor Castro and San Antonio ISD are grateful the firm’s participation service. A special thank you to Lorena DeHoyos for coordinating all the work place mentoring visits. The San Antonio office staff participating in Big Brothers and Big Sisters include: Barbara Aguilar, Yvette Balderas, Michael Barragan, Kimberly Bradford, Irene Castillo, Melinda Castillo, Baudie Cepeda, Lettie Crespin, Crystal Davis, Lorena DeHoyos, Debbie De La Cerda, Crystal Estrada, Veronica Gomez, William Gomez, Zane Goodspeed, Ada Poy, Rene Ramirez, Elisa Ramos, Jennifer Renteria, Donna Stein, Calixto Valdiviez, Katy Vidales, and Selene Villagomez.

Wells Receives Recognition for Community Activities

In March 2012, San Antonio Director of Operations Carri Baker Wells was inducted in the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame under the organization’s Volunteerism Category. This recognition was well-deserved by Carri as she has been actively serving the City in many roles. In May she hosted (as Chairman) the 2012 American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Conference and Luncheon to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Also in May, she served as Campaign Tri-Chair and Treasurer for the City of San Antonio 2012 Bond Election.

Partnership with Habitat for Humanity Helps Family Build Dream House

There is a Greek Proverb that says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” Inspired by these words five members of the firm’s Downtown San Antonio Office: Ceci Villarreal, Elizabeth Lackey Kat Garza, Katy Vidales, and Lisa Ramos, partnered with Habitat for Humanity-San Antonio to help a family build their dream home in January this year. Habitat for Humanity is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on building homes for low income families who could not otherwise afford a home on their own. These families spend time investing in “sweat equity” where they support and help build their own home and the homes of their neighbors.

Texas City, Texas

Partner Serves in Many Civic Roles and is Named Distinguished Alumni

In January 2012, Partner Mark Ciavaglia was installed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Texas City–La Marque Chamber of Commerce for 2012. Mark has previously served on the Executive Board for the Chamber and as Chairman of the Legislative Affairs Committee. Ciavaglia was also named as Chairman-Elect for the Board of Trustees for HCA Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, a regional health care system with two campuses – Clear Lake and Mainland Medical Center in Texas City. Mark will begin serving as Chairman in January 2013.