Pocono News Section

Area Lawyers Helping Hometown Heroes

Area Lawyers Helping Hometown Heroes - Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 11:25PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Saturday, Jan 30, 2010 @ 11:25pm EST
NANTICOKE, LUZERNE COUNTY -- While most of us don't like to think about end of life issues - it's something we need to prepare for. An area organization helped some hometown heroes do just that Saturday.

As an emergency medical technician for more than 30 years, Janet Griffith has come face to face with death many times. But she tries not to think about her own mortality. "It's kind of a scary thought," she said.

She got over her fears to attend the "Wills for Heroes" event at Luzerne County Community College. "You don't know what's going to happen when you're on the scene of an accident, the scene of a fire. I want to make sure my family is prepared in case something should happen," said Griffith.

She and her husband, who's a firefighter, both had wills prepared for free. The Young Lawyers division of the Wilkes-Barre Law and Library Association organized the event.

Event coordinator Kelly Bray said, "Every day they're out there doing thing to help us and I think it would be nice to give back."

Attorney Kelly Bray got involved because of her grandfather. He was a firefighter in Nanticoke who recently died. "I thought it would be a great way to honor his memory," she said.

40 lawyers volunteered to help. They prepared wills for 140 people. Many of the first responders told us they wouldn't normally be able to afford a service like this. It costs between $1,000 and $3,000.

"I couldn't do it before and I'm glad they offered Wills for Heroes. This is a good program," said Griffith.

ItÕs a good program that the young lawyers hope to turn into an annual event.

The Wills for Heroes program was founded in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks. Only a handful of first responders who died at the World Trade Center had wills.