Community Service
Our attorneys and professional staff take great pride in giving back to their communities in a variety of meaningful ways...
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Carmen Sarge recently completed his tenure as 2011’s National President for the National Society of Professional Insurance Investigators (NSPII). Formed in 1983, NSPII is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering investigative ideas, procedures and techniques. NSPII sponsors annual, national and regional seminars, publishes a newsletter, and conducts regular meetings to inform and develop professionals in the areas of insurance fraud recognition, prevention and investigation. www.nspii.com
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Congratulations to the Smith, Rolfes & Skavdahl runners who competed in the Cincinnati Bar Association's Annual Run for Kids 5K to benefit ProKids. The Smith, Rolfes & Skavdahl team came in 13th place, and team members consisted of (from left) Jason Walker, Patricia Trombetta, Zach McCune, Jon Lippert and Tyler Hull.
ProKids is a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of abused and neglected children in the legal system. ProKids trains volunteers to serve as Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) in the court. CASAs provide abused and neglected children with a voice in the court system. www.prokids.org
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Diversity is one of Smith, Rolfes & Skavdahl's areas of commitment. We are proud to have hosted the annual Minority Law Student Holiday Reception on behalf of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati - Cincinnati Bar Association Round Table. This event enables minority law students the opportunity to network with attorneys and judges throughout the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.
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Peter Schmid is the Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Corryville Catholic School.
Corryville Catholic is committed to educate the whole child. Their mission is to maintain high standards of academic excellence, meeting the spiritual, physical, emotional and social needs of the students. www.corryvillecatholic.org |
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Patrick Schomaker is a mentor with Xavier University’s Executive Mentor Program.
The goals and objectives of the executive mentor relationship are to equip the student with the insight and tools to make informed and ethical career decisions, confirm the student's chosen degree and identify career paths, groom the student into a confident graduate with exceptional leadership, teamwork, creative thinking, and interpersonal skills through coaching and feedback, provide a source of advice on personal growth, academics, mission and career options, provide a forum for the observation, practice and mastery of professional networking skills, and to assist the student in identifying and pursuing employment opportunities related to their degree. www.xavier.edu/williams/mentors/index.cfm |
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Tom Glassman and Patricia Trombetta handle pro bono cases through the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati.
The Volunteer Lawyers Project allows attorneys to represent low-income persons whose cases have merit but which might otherwise be lost due to their inability to pay for counsel and the resulting inadequate self-representation. The Volunteer Lawyers Project has made a difference for thousands of low-income clients in southwestern Ohio and has brought the concept of equal justice for all a bit closer to reality. http://www.vlpcincinnati.org
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| Roseann Sand currently serves as president of the Omega Nu Tau Sorority (a philanthropic sorority). The sorority assists children’s charities throughout Greater Cincinnati. The group has raised more than $5,000 this past year, and has used that money to sponsor children to different camperships, as well as provide financial assistance to families with critically ill children. The sorority holds different fundraisers throughout the year, such as making and selling Easter candy, Entertainment Books, garage sales, just to mention a few. |
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Tom Glassman was a founder and former Vice President of the Gorman Heritage Farm Foundation.
The mission of Gorman Heritage Farm is to provide people the opportunity to explore and learn the history, methods and values of a working family farm in a natural setting. www.gormanfarm.org |
| Tom Glassman was selected to serve as a Fellow in the Ohio State Bar Foundation. Their class project developed the B4USend educational video for high school and middle school students on cyber-bullying and the dangers of improper use of technology and social networks. http://www.osbf.net/what-we-do/b4usend |
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Sixteen people from the Cincinnati area went to Shepherd’s Field Orphanage located about an hour south of Beijing, China, on a mission trip. All of the children at Shepherd’s Field are special needs children, many given up by their parents in order that the children will receive proper medical care. Four of the people were connected to our office, Matt and Cyndi Smith and Jan and Duane Skavdahl. This was the second time a mission team to this orphanage included people from our office.
The group from Cincinnati assisted the staff in whatever way possible during the ten days they were there. This included cleaning out an attic with many years of accumulated items, light construction, taking children to a local hospital, and most importantly, being with the children. The mission team coordinated with LensCrafters and had planned to give eye screenings and possibly glasses to many of the children in the local area. Unfortunately, local officials refused to allow the children to come to the orphanage for eye screenings. The team then opened up the eye screening to adults in the area. The mission team did not know how many people would come, but they prayed and asked God to help them do the best they could even if only 1 or 2 people came, or many. Their prayers were answered and in two days, they gave eye screenings to almost 1,000 people. When they stopped, it was not because there were no more people waiting to be seen, it was that the team ran out of time. Some of the people which came had never known what it was like to see properly and they jumped up and down when they put on glasses and were actually able to see their surroundings.
The mission team did have time for some sightseeing including a trip to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and going to Church with expatriates living in Beijing. This was an exciting trip especially considering the current relationship between the United States and China as it gave the mission team a unique opportunity to interact with the Chinese people.
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Jerry Rolfes joined Matthew Smith and members of his church mission team on a working mission trip to Lanfang, China to manually dig out tree-stumps and prepare for installing a soccer field, as well as perform other work, to benefit a large orphanage community. |
| Jerry Rolfes joined his wife and their church mission team for a working trip to Montana at a Crow Indian reservation where Jerry was involved in construction/excavation for the footers and foundation of a new foster-home for a large extended Crow Indian family. |
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