Lehigh County event helped hundreds with clothing, food
Lehigh County’s Community Outreach Day has grown every time it’s happened, County Executive Phillips Armstrong said.
It’s grown so much that at the most recent one May 7 at the Government Center, hundreds of people received items such as clothing, food and blankets. Attendees also received medical services such as vaccinations.
About 50 volunteers helped with the event, from officials at the county government to grocery stores to drug treatment centers to food banks.
“A young girl came, I would say about 12 or 13 years old … [and] got a suitcase and went and got a brand-new blanket to give her mother for Mother’s Day,” Armstrong said. “[Chief Public Defender Kimberly Makoul] and I each had tears in our eyes [and] said, ‘If nothing else, today is going to be a fabulous success just because of that.’ It really is quite a give-back by the county to the citizens. It’s growing. We’ve been nationally recognized for this because I think we’re one of the only counties in the United States that does something like this.”
The Public Defender’s Office provided legal consultation with dozens of people on topics including eligibility to vote and restoring driver’s licenses.
Makoul said she created the biannual event last year with the idea to give clients a holistic model of representation.
This means that instead of just providing people representation during their cases, the Public Defender’s Office uses this event to address clients’ issues beyond the case, such as unemployment or addiction.
Addressing these issues can lead to slower rates of incarceration and shorter stays in jail, Makoul said.
Community Outreach Day also functions as a networking opportunity for clients and client advocates to build trust between the two.
“If we deal with some of these … mental health issues, their drug and alcohol issues, the better off society is,” she said.
On May 12, the National Association of Counties gave their Achievement Award to the Lehigh County Public Defender’s Office in the Criminal Justice and Public Safety category.
“The Community Outreach Day event is an innovative program that we wanted to recognize,” chief public affairs officer Brian Namey of the National Association said. “Taking the services of the Public Defender’s Office outside of the legal system and a legal setting and into communities is innovative. [It’s] an approach that can generate positive outcomes for individuals, their families and the community.”
The next event is scheduled for October, client advocate Travis Pezzuto said.
North Penn Legal Services, JobCorps, Careerlink, Empowerworks, Tools-4-Success, the Allentown Center for Recovery, Sync Recovery, ReciproCity, Valley Youth House, Street Medicine, NAMI, Change on Hamilton, the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living, the Lehigh Valley Outreach Depot, the Lehigh Conference of Churches and the Brown Bin Angels were at the Community Outreach Day earlier this month.