Two prominent family foundations known for supporting human service nonprofits across Vermont and New Hampshire have made large, multi-year grants to the Veterans Legal Assistance Project at Vermont Law School’s South Royalton Legal Clinic. The Hoehl Family Foundation made a three-year commitment of $120,000, and the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation made a two-year commitment of $60,000, providing crucial general operating support. Both have supported the veteran’s clinic in the past, but this increased level of support assures the continued delivery of free legal assistance to veterans for the foreseeable future.
In addition, the Vermont Bar Foundation’s (VBF) Board of Directors are currently receiving donations from Vermont companies with a connection to the military and a desire to support veterans – including veteran-owned businesses and defense contractors – to bring additional funding to the Veterans Clinic. So far Chroma Technology, Comcast, General Dynamics, Green Mountain Power, National Life Foundation, VELCO, and Vermont Gas Systems have generously committed to supporting Vermont’s veterans. If your company wishes to donate to this effort, please contact VBF Executive Director Deborah Bailey at dbailey@vtbarfoundation.org, or (802) 223-1400. VBF has a long history of supporting organizations statewide that provide free legal services to low-income Vermonters with a variety of civil law needs.
Grant funds will further support the work of full-time staff attorney, Don Hayes, at the South Royalton Legal Clinic, who provides counsel and representation to veterans, trains and supervises law students, educates veterans on their rights, and advocates for fair legal treatment for former military servicemembers. Law students at the Clinic contribute hundreds of hours of their time each year, providing veterans a wide range of free legal assistance. The Clinic is open year round and operates programs that cater to the needs of more than 1,200 low-income Vermonters each year, including programs specifically for immigrants, children, and domestic violence survivors, in addition to veterans. Often these service areas overlap for clients with multiple legal needs.
“Between the Hoehl Foundation, the Byrne Foundation, VBF, and Vermont Law School,” says Staff Attorney Don Hayes, “we have a true partnership devoted to guaranteeing that access to justice for all will not be curtailed, and that veterans will get the special legal assistance they need, when they need it, even if they can’t afford it. It is the duty of all of us in the legal profession to help make sure that veterans have all the legal help they need.”
There are more than 49,000 veterans in Vermont–one out of every ten adults–too many of whom cannot afford the legal assistance they and their families need and deserve. Those who answered the call to duty should never be denied the rights and benefits they deserve when their days of service are over. Multiple state and federal programs and community service organizations provide wide-ranging support to this population; however, the Veterans Clinic is the only program exclusively addressing Vermont’s veteran’s legal needs.
The South Royalton Legal Clinic (SRLC) at Vermont Law School has been providing legal assistance and access to justice for low-income Vermonters and other local vulnerable populations since 1979. Operating as a legal aid law office within Vermont Law School, SRLC provides free legal representation in a wide range of civil proceedings, while giving meaningful and comprehensive training to the next generation of legal advocates.
As one of only three major poverty law centers in Vermont, SRLC addresses the unmet legal needs of Vermonters who cannot otherwise afford legal representation, averaging more than 250 hearings and related legal proceedings across more than fifteen Vermont venues –in addition to providing consults, referrals, and general information sessions that reach hundreds more – in matters such as domestic abuse, immigration law, housing, employment, bankruptcy, divorce, custody, and veterans law. This equates to more than $1.5M annually in free legal counsel to low-income Vermonters.