On this Memorial Day we remember those who have served our country and paid the ultimate price for our freedom and security. All of our brave veterans are heroes. Unfortunately some of them return home and face both financial and legal hardship. The Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic is proud to partner with an organization called Helping Veterans and Families (HVAF). HVAF refers veterans directly to the Clinic for help with a variety of legal needs. 

Nearly one year ago, Erin Hall took the helm as the Clinic’s executive director, helping to expand our mission of justice for the most vulnerable in our communities. Today we interview Erin to learn about her past experience, what promoting justice and mercy means to her personally, and her vision for the future. 

I didn’t realize what an obstacle a criminal record really is. It’s hard to make any forward progress. It’s a wonder they don’t give up. Working here, you become a more compassionate person, because you’re exposed to peoples’ stories that you never would have known anything about.

My practice is focused on representing survivors of domestic abuse in family law and protective order cases. Two of my clients suffer from permanent brain damage because of the beatings they received at the hands of their husbands. Several of my clients have endured violent attacks in front of their children or grandchildren. Some of my clients came to me full of uncertainty because their spouses “only” abused them emotionally or financially, and maybe, they wondered, it wasn’t really that bad.

Makenzie Winger was spending Valentine’s Day 2019 with her then fiancé when she received an email from her department head at Taylor University. The email described something called a Justice Fellowship at a nonprofit legal organization in Indianapolis. “I stopped everything we were doing to read my fiancé the job description,” Makenzie recalls. “It was an opportunity to continue to learn more about justice issues, to step into the legal field for the first time, and to do work that felt meaningful. I also wouldn’t have to worry about finding housing. It just sounded like the perfect job for this phase of my life.”

Before Stephanie Kilpatrick became a staff attorney at the Clinic, she worked in many different fields, including behind the scenes in broadcasting, as the frontwoman of a big band, and in various church leadership positions. Her legal career has likewise taken many twists and turns. Most recently, after 18 years as a real estate attorney, she felt the Lord pulling her in a new direction. She wanted to use her legal skills to serve the Lord.

Long before becoming our Fort Wayne Office Coordinator, Sarah Doak was interested in helping others. “Hip hop music exposed me to a lot of injustice that I had been sheltered from,” she says. Sarah decided to get her degree in social work and attended IUPUI for her freshman year. During this time, she started volunteering with our partners at Outreach, Inc., a non-profit organization that walks alongside homeless youth, equipping and empowering them to achieve stability and transformation in their lives.

Kanfing Camara worked with Director of Immigrant Services Rachel Van Tyle in the Immigrant Justice Program (IJP) during her internship. She helped the IJP staff by filling out various immigration applications and completing other administrative work. Of her experience, she says, “I learned a lot about different immigration applications, and which forms handle what sort of issues, from getting a work visa to obtaining a green card. I became more aware of the actual work that immigration lawyers do, and how to be personable to clients.” Her favorite part was hearing the stories of the clients, where they came from, and why they came to the United States. She says, “I really liked seeing how they lit up when they were told that their case would be picked up by the Clinic.” This fall, Kanfing is heading into her last year of undergrad at Purdue University.

As a young girl, Jordan Huttenlocker dreamed of being a veterinarian. Over the years, however, her ambitions shifted, and she eventually became a lawyer, practicing medical malpractice defense. For a time, this was the perfect marriage of her interests. But after eight years of working as a full-time attorney at a large firm in Chicago, Jordan and her husband decided to move back to Ft. Wayne. Jordan took a step back from her career to focus on raising their two small children. Soon, however, she sought part-time employment again. “I realized I really did miss practicing law,” she says.

Babra has spent much of her career working with vulnerable communities, even before coming to the United States. As an immigrant herself, she has faced many challenges that continue to influence and confirm for her that she is in the right place with the Clinic now. “My faith leads the work I do because that is my source of strength each day,” she says. “I remind myself every day that God … uplifts our spirits and others and that our faith in him provides guidance and answers where we are challenged.” Babra loves to serve clients and is currently working toward becoming an Accredited Representative so that she can assist with immigration proceedings in the future.

In some regards, getting to know these individual stories has helped to contextualize Cynthia’s own history. “Growing up with my family, my grandparents were immigrants from Mexico,” she says. “I didn’t appreciate the sacrifices that my family has had to make until I saw how much getting a Green Card or a work permit or any help from the Clinic has meant to people who sacrificed everything to come here. That’s opened my eyes.”

This summer, Van Sui assisted in our Immigrant Justice Program for her internship, helping with contacting clients and providing Burmese translations and interpretation. Currently a senior at Taylor University, she hopes to pursue Law School in the future. "I would like to gain experiences while pursuing my further education in U.S.," she says. "After, I would want to actively involve in Burma government with all my abilities in the processes of transitioning into a democracy country." She loved her opportunity to work at the Clinic, melding her career goals with her faith. She says, "It was interesting and inspiring to see the organization not only standing for Psalm 82:3-4, but practically applying it by assisting with various issues and standing up for vulnerable people with love, care, and passion."

Desiree Koger-Gustafson’s grandmother knew she was going to be a lawyer before Desiree did. For years, Desiree worked in the health field, harboring a desire to go to Medical School one day. But as she pursued this dream, she kept hitting roadblocks. “I retook the MCAT several times, my GPA was where it should be, but I could never get in,” Desiree says. “So I started to think maybe this wasn’t the direction I was supposed to go in.”

Recognizing God’s provision is often pivotal to the work that Michael does—most especially when that work is messy. “[At times, I find myself] working with some pretty broken situations and still not being able to fix them,” he says. On occasion, there are no good options for our clients; a foreclosure cannot be prevented and Michael finds himself in the position of having to deliver bad news. “I don’t like it when things don’t work,” he says. “My hope is that we can offer assistance of some sort often, yet it sometimes doesn’t take the shape that people are hoping for.” But even when things don’t work precisely as his clients would like, Michael is there to walk through the process alongside them.

Dee Dee Gowan was only 21 years old when she was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. Her first duty station was the Naval Ocean Processing Facility at Ford Island, a small island inside Pearl Harbor. For three years, she lived and worked in Hawaii, but was assigned to her next duty station at the Pentagon during the First Gulf War. On her last day in Hawaii, Dee Dee looked through the plane window and promised herself that when she had a family of her own, she would return. But three decades passed, life got in the way, and the promise she made to herself went unfulfilled.