From Day of Dignity to the Great Tryke Giveaway

Making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate in our communities

2023 December

2023 is almost over – and this is the perfect time to reflect on everything Orange County and Los Angeles Trial Lawyers’ Charities have been able to do this year. The goal of our organizations is to make a difference in our communities. Sometimes those impacts can be big, and sometimes they can change just one life.

Los Angeles

Here is an email we received following LATLC’s recent Day of Dignity for those experiencing homelessness:

Hi everybody,

As many of you know, I do outreach all over the streets of LA in association with Food on Foot, so I am able to share with you the substantial impact you all made to those in need who attended the Day of Dignity.

Tremendous.

Since the event, I haven’t had an hour when I wasn’t thanked or told a story regarding the great help and extreme pleasure everyone experienced with you all.

People who could not access legal advice anywhere else got it. Many received vaccinations who would never have had the opportunity.

From the food to the clothing to the haircuts to podiatry...Everything was mentioned.

One lady told me she’d never known chiropractors could make you feel so good.

So, this morning when a good man who has been desperate to access housing told me the event had given him the courage to approach his caseworker with a better attitude. It paid off. She told him she had been reluctant to complete the process because he had been so negative in his attitude toward others. I helped him move in yesterday.

You did this.

Giving people a simple day when they are treated decently is a gift that is much prized by those who live their lives largely being treated as the gum under someone’s shoe.

So, with great appreciation and much love from all those you helped, I thank you for your generous hearts.

That event was only one of the many activities LATLC hosts throughout the year.  LATLC put together 21 projects for a total of 1,800 volunteer hours, donated $300,000 in grants, youth sports gifts, and scholarships, held a record four fundraisers (thanks to a rained-out Golf Tournament in 2022), and just hosted our annual Comfort & Joy holiday giving event for more than 2,000 people in South Los Angeles.

Orange County

In 2023, OCTLC held several service projects, provided $9,000 of scholarships to at-risk youth, built houses through Habitat for Humanity, ran a water station at the Triumph Foundation 5K in Irvine, teamed up for another 5K through Disneyland to support Children’s Hospital of Orange County in the annual CHOC Walk in the Park, served lunch at Orangewood Foundation (for foster and at-risk youth) and became a holiday sponsor for the Boys and Girls Club, donating more than $155,000 to numerous OC charities, as well as conducting annual fundraisers such as the Charity Roast of OCTLA Top Gun Winner Eric Traut and hosting the annual fabulous Newport Dunes Beach Luau.

OCTLC also received heartfelt thank-you letters for their generosity. Following the scholarships provided through OCBA Project Youth, a young scholarship winner who showed up to the awards banquet with his family wrote in gratitude he would never give up on his educational journey now that OCTLC showed that people believed in him, despite the fact that no one had ever attended college in his family. A family of a newborn who had to remain hospitalized after birth thanked OCTLC for its donation to Ronald McDonald House, saying, “being close to him means everything as a set of new parents in these difficult circumstances.”

The Great Tryke Giveaway

We are especially proud of our joint LATLC & OCTLC Signature Event – The Great Tryke Giveaway – that provided more than 50 adaptive tricycles to children with limited abilities in our respective communities. At that event, volunteers also assembled 1,000 toiletry kits that were distributed to organizations in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.

The impact of the work is really felt when reading these thank you letters and stories of the recipients of our giving. Whether it was to help a single person or to support deserving organizations, Trial Lawyers’ Charities does make a difference in our communities. It is not too late to join us in 2023 – donate toward our organizations (www.latlc.org or www.octlc.org )and see what we can do in 2024.