Legal Aid Facing Hardships

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Legal Aid Society of Columbus has already laid off seven lawyers within the past week.

Now the non-profit organization is trying to find ways to avoid more layoffs, NBC 4‘s Tanya Hutchins reported.

Ted Carson and his wife have five children. Their legal aid lawyer helped them get special needs assistance for their home schooling.

“This is what a working class family needs, is an organization like this to fill in the gaps to help those that can’t advocate for themselves,“ Carson said.

Legal Aid’s primary funding comes from interest on lawyer trust accounts. When interest rates drop by as little was one-fourth of a percentage point, Legal Aid loses about $80,000.

The current economy has left legal aid with $1 million less than it had a year ago.

“This is a mission-driven organization. Everybody’s here because they want to make a difference and it’s hard on morale. It’s very discouraging. The people we turn away and continue to turn away are people who desperately need our help,“ said Thomas Weeks, of the Legal Aid Society of Columbus.

Help came for Cheryl Whitten, who got back on her feet medically and now wants to give back to the community.

“Because I believe when someone goes out of their way to help you, you should go out of your way to help other people also,“ Whitten said.

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