SnapGlow.TV: Modern Gems Galore! Legal and financial professionals will volunteer at free economic "help desks" for consumers across the state as part of a national service initiative that begins today.
People will be able to visit 22 sites - three in the Philadelphia region - and describe their situations to the volunteers. They, in turn, will refer consumers to service agencies for more detailed help with issues such as foreclosure, unemployment, and credit-card debt.
"The goal is to help people one by one as they come in," said U.S. District Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, who is helping enlist volunteers.
The initiative, called Get Help Now, is one of a number of national programs prompted by United We Serve, an initiative announced by the White House last month and organized in Pennsylvania by the judge's husband, Gov. Rendell.
Staffing the help desks will be attorneys, financial analysts, and banking and mortgage professionals, all equipped with resource manuals for referral services, Marjorie Rendell said.
"It's not going to hasten the [economic] recovery or make these challenges go away," she said. "But we're talking about real people in small communities getting access to things they need."
The help desks will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 6 p.m. Sites in the area will be in Philadelphia and Chester and Bucks Counties.
Organizers expect to recruit 2,000 volunteers statewide by the end of the summer program Sept. 11, a spokesman for the governor's office said. The volunteers will not provide legal advice.
Ersula Cosby, a lawyer in Lower Bucks County, said she would volunteer on Thursday for a five-hour shift. She said she expected the help desks would provide referrals on a range of issues.
"I think it's going to be mostly job losses and foreclosures - legal issues that have to do with money," she said.
Ed Novak of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking, which is supplying volunteers, said the program would provide needed financial guidance.
"It's an opportunity for lawyers and bankers to get out of their offices, to get out from behind their desks and into the community," he said.
Program locations in the region are: Drexel University, Earle Mack School of Law, 3320 Market St., Philadelphia; Bucks County Bar Association, 135 E. State St., Doylestown; and Chester County Bar Association, 15 W. Gay St., West Chester.
Contact staff writer Max Stendahl at 610-313-8207 or mstendahl@phillynews.com.
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The rocky economy has had an impact on the size, value and bottom line of many of the top 100 companies in the 10-county Philadelphia region, as well as on the total pay of their CEOs.
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