It’s that time of the year again where I get to take a second between decisions and trials to thank our clients and our community for their support this year, and, as always, it has me thinking and considering about how to better count our blessings and extend blessings onto those we work for and with. This time of year, is my favorite for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that it’s the time for almost all of my favorite charitable events to come to life.
In October, our office family, myself as the Chairperson of the event, were able to participate and plan the LaSalle County Out of the Darkness Walk here in Ottawa. We had over 300 walkers and were able to raise $44,000 on the day of the walk which brings research, advocacy efforts, programs for prevention, and different trainings and opportunities to our individual community to help prevent suicide and spread important information and hope about mental health and wellness. As of the date of this blog post, we’ve raised $48,630.00 total for AFSP in this last year and we’re so excited to be a part of this effort again each and every year. If you’ve never participated in a walk before, want to join our community, or if you just want more information about the organization and the programs it presents, you can visit www.afsp.org at any time. Our individual county walk page locally is www.afsp.org/lasallecounty. If you’re interested in participating next year either individually or by walking with a team, the date is tentatively set and registered for October 15, 2022 beginning at 11 AM in Washington Park in downtown Ottawa!
Moving towards the end of the year, our office is excited to be participating in Freezin’ for a Reezin’ again for the 5th year collecting food and money for our local homeless shelters for the winter. The event itself, put on by our own local WCMY radio station and Maggie Frost, will be held on December 3rd from 7:30 AM until 2:00 PM at WCMY 93.5/1430 AM with a drive through drop off being held until 4:00 PM at WCMY and Handy Foods in Ottawa! Monetary donations are also available to be given at ottawafoodbasket.org. We’re excited to gather food for those who might need it, and we encourage our local community to participate in that as well.
The final fundraiser our office participates in for the year and that we encourage all to donate to is the Penguin Plunge on January 29th at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois! I’ll be jumping again this year on Team Francisco in honor of my friend who jumped for years and got me involved with Make a Wish through his niece many years ago. If you’d like to support my plunge and make a donation to make a wish, whether its because you support the organization or because you hope I jump in and freeze (ha!), you can go to our Team Francisco fundraising page on the Penguin Plunge Make a Wish website under the Ottawa, Illinois plunge site and donate there under my name! As always, I’m excited to freeze for a good cause this year. Do it for the kids.
In summary, if you find yourself looking around on the blessings you have in your life, whether its your family through a tough situation, your attorneys (like us) who help fight to get your family and yourself the compensation they deserve, your friends, or just a glimpse of happiness on a bad day, come join us and participate in giving back to our community with us in one of these events. And if you can’t do that- or if you find yourself in need of someone to fight for you this holiday season so you can find these blessings- call our office at 888-488-4LAW for legal advice for whatever situation you’re in. We’re here to help you. Thank you for allowing us to fight for you in 2021, and we look forward to continuing our pursuit for justice, happiness, and equality for all of our clients in 2022.
Attorney Alexis P. Ferracuti