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Coming in early June, my late brother-in-law, Carl James Palmer, Jr., known to all as Sonny Palmer, will be remembered by his family and friends during the Sonny Palmer Sunshine Classic. Sonny passed unexpectedly in January 2012 and that year his family began a yearly tradition by having a golf tournament in his name with the proceeds being donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. Sonny was a veteran of the Air Force and he was passionate about the needs of our wounded vets. This year will be the 7 th year for our small family-planned tournament. The 18-hole golf tournament is held at the Fairway River Links Golf Course in Rayland, Ohio, a beautiful course along the Ohio River. Most of the golfers are family and friends of Sonny who come together to reminisce and catch up. Those that participate who may not have known Sonny surely now know a great deal about him as they keep coming back each year. Following the tournament, all golfers are invited to the PAP Club in South Wheeling for lunch prepared by the family. The winning team receives a prize. All golfers receive a gift bag (from the family) and a prize donated by our generous business community. We also raffle off many other donated items, along with having a 50/50 raffle, a Chinese raffle (with all baskets put together and donated by Sonny’s family) and finally a grand door prize—this year donated by a family member. Many friends help with setting up, cooking, cleaning up and just being there to enjoy the day. This has been a lot of fun for everyone no matter their participation—whether they golf or just come to have lunch. Bordas & Bordas has been a supporter of the tournament since the beginning. And the businesses from our community are very generous as is demonstrated by the many donations. We all miss Sonny very much and because of the absolute wonderful memories we have of him, it has been very satisfying to donate each year to the Wounded Warrior Project. To date, a donation of well over $18,000 has been made in Sonny’s name. And we all know what Sonny’s words would be, as he was often heard saying, “That blows my mind, man!”

On the day the Pennsylvania Superior Court announced its decision in Trigg v. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (May 14, 2018), a joint ad hoc committee of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County (Academy) and the Allegheny County Bar Association’s (ACBA) litigation section finalized its report and recommendations concerning Allegheny County’s civil jury voir dire process. Over the course of three months, the Committee analyzed several scholar studies; national and local surveys; and, a survey of Academy and ACBA litigators seeking their impressions on Allegheny County’s civil voir dire process. The Committee highlighted that while the right to trial by jury in civil cases is a bedrock of our democracy, it is an empty mandate if the jury selection process cannot provide for the fair vetting of potential jurors who harbor biases or preconceptions that would prevent them from being fair and impartial. Interestingly, aside from Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, every other county in Pennsylvania had a judge preside over the voir dire process; and, court reporters were routinely provided in every county with the exception of Philadelphia, Allegheny and Bucks counties. Based upon the Committee’s review of these materials, and their experience with jury selection in various venues, the Committee proposed the following seven changes to Allegheny County’s jury selection process: Jurors should be informed about voir dire process during orientation. Currently, prospective Allegheny County jurors are oriented to their service via videotape and/or live remarks made in the Assignment Room at the beginning of the day. The Committee believes that this orientation should include a brief discussion about the voir dire process and how important it is that the jurors be candid and honest in responding to questions. Jurors should be reassured that there are no right or wrong answers, and that it is completely appropriate to acknowledge that they have certain preconceptions that may be relevant to the case, but inappropriate if they faile to reveal those preconceptions. A judge should preside over voir dire. Through its research, the Committee determined that Allegheny County’s practice of conducting juror voir dire without a judge being present is essentially unprecedented. Because there is no record as to why Allegheny County developed such a process, the Committee surmised that the court determined that it could move cases faster through the system. That said, the Committee determined that for the past 15 years there has been a 55% decline in the number of verdicts in Allegheny County. Thus, the Committee believed that Allegheny County could provide a judge to preside of the jury voir dire process. Judges should place less reliance on “rehabilitation” assurances from jurors in ruling on challenges for cause. The Committee believed that rather than simply accepting a juror’s self-professed ability to be impartial despite earlier biased representations, the process should allow for more neutral follow-up questions that allows the potential juror to articulate a particularity reliable reassurance of their impartiality; otherwise, the presumption should be that they cannot be fair and impartial. Attorneys should have greater flexibility on case specific voir dire questions. As it currently stands in Allegheny County, the parties are permitted five specific voir dire questions; and, the questions involving the potential juror’s “thoughts” or “feelings” on certain issues are typically excluded. The Committee believes that exceptions should be made to expand the number of questions, and also permit questions that seek the thoughts or feelings of a potential juror as the question may be relevant to an inquiry whose purpose is to ferret out bias and prejudice. Attorneys should have greater latitude to ask follow-up questions during individual voir dire. At present, attorneys are only permitted brief follow-up with respect to potential juror’s answers to individual questions. The Committee believes that attorneys, particularly when a potential juror provides a response that may demonstrate bias or prejudice, be granted greater latitude to explore the panel’s answer more thoroughly. Attorneys should have more time to review juror questionnaires. Attorneys should have more time to review notes before making preemptory strikes. These final two points are self-explanatory – the Committee simply believes that the Court should be more flexible in allowing counsel to evaluate potential jurors, and they believe that having a judge present will help facilitate this goal. The timing of this Report and the Triggs decision could not have been better. Hopefully, we will see some long overdue changes to Allegheny County’s jury selection process in the near future.

To many people Memorial Day weekend is not only a time to honor our fallen heroes, but it is also the unofficial start to summer. To those who consider Memorial Day as the start of summer, this past weekend’s temperatures didn’t disappoint! With temperatures reaching into the mid-eighties and plenty of sunshine to go around, now seemed like a good time to once again remind people of the importance of protecting themselves from the sun’s harmful rays. The sun does a lot of good for you: a little sunshine raises Vitamin D and serotonin levels, reduces the risk of diabetes and certain cancers, and boosts fertility. However, the health benefits of sunlight depend on the dose you receive. As is the case with most things, too much of a good thing can also be bad for you. Too much sunlight is bad news: there’s a correlation between the number of sunburns you get and whether or not you develop skin cancer. The trick to getting the benefits from the sun is to avoid overexposure. The most bulletproof way to do that is to cover up with clothing, but that’s not always a practical option. Sunscreen is useful for those times when your skin is going to be exposed to the sun during the day. Unfortunately, some sunscreens aren’t much better for you than the sunburns they prevent. Many varieties contain unsafe chemicals. A massive study conducted by the scientists at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a national environmental organization that analyzes toxic chemical use in consumer products, scrutinized over 1,700 SPF-rated products from sunscreens, creams and lip balms. The study found that many sunscreens contain hazardous chemicals. One of the most common ones was the hormone disruptor oxybenzone, linked to endocrine imbalances and skin damage. Also prevalent was retinyl palmitate, a possible carcinogen. The study noted that spray sunscreens often contain harmful inhalants and don’t cover the skin evenly, and that SPF protection tops out at 30-50 SPF, so anything advertising a higher SPF is a marketing gimmick. Products with super high SPF values of over 50-110+ were categorized as misleading. The bottom line: only 21 percent of the 1,000 sunscreens analyzed for EWG’s guide scored high marks. The following are some suggestions to minimize the sun’s harmful effects and maximize sun-soaking benefits: Cover up! This is intuitive, but it’s still worth emphasizing. Protect yourself with things like clothing and headgear. Make sure the weave in your clothing is tight enough to block harmful UV rays. Read sunscreen labels. Always check ingredients and avoid retinyl palmitate (vitamin A) and oxybenzone. Sprays don’t provide adequate coverage and inhalation poses a serious risk – opt for lotions instead. Apply and reapply sunscreen every two hours. Sweat and swimming diminish its effects. Better yet, wear a hat and a shirt! Use natural or mineral-based (titanium-based and zinc-based) sunscreens that reflect the sun’s rays away from your skin, as opposed to chemical sunscreens that absorb the sun’s rays. Many natural sunscreens protect skin just as well as conventional sunscreens without harsh chemicals. Plan ahead. Always have a hat and a shirt handy. Use umbrellas at the beach, park and beyond. Choose a high-performance sunscreen. Check out the EWG’s 2015 sunscreen guide to choosing the best sun blocks for your favorite activities. You can further optimize your internal sunscreen by eating antioxidant-rich foods and taking certain supplements. The following are a few suggestions: Omega-3s (from diet and from supplements like krill oil) Astaxanthin (salmon and fish oil) Vitamin E (supplement this one) Catechins (coffee, chocolate, green and white tea) Resveratrol (blueberries and red grapes) Beta-carotene (carrots and red bell peppers) Now that you’re protected, go out there and enjoy the healthy benefits of the sun!

Over Memorial Day weekend, I participated in the 2018 Ogden 5K. My daughter-in-law works for the Health Plan, and since they and Bordas and Bordas sponsored this year, we thought it would be fun to participate together. We decided to take my youngest two grandchildren and took turns pushing them in a double stroller, so it wasn’t a race I was going to place in, but I still had fun. Pushing those two was a workout in and of itself so I got my money’s worth. The children enjoyed it too, so that’s all that really mattered. After the race, they had a band playing by the civic center. My granddaughter danced and danced. She’s a 4-year-old, so it was really cute. My grandson just bounced up and down on my lap, which is what he likes to do anyway. We also got a wet towel and a popsicle. That was a really good combination to cool off with, and I enjoyed both immensely. Everyone left happy. All-in-all it was a very nice race, and everyone had a good time. Now if I can just keep up with the exercising, I’ll be running in the next race. I do plan on participating in a few more races this summer. Someday I would like to run a half marathon, but it won’t be until I have trained for at least a year. Stay tuned!

Kudos to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as they brought yet another wonderful Broadway show to the tri-state area with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. As a kid, I loved the Disney version of the fairy tale so much that, before I could read, I memorized the story, word-for-word, that was read to me every night before bed. I had an array of books from which to choose, but always selected Cinderella. When my husband surprised me with tickets to the Tony award-winning musical at Heinz Hall, I was thrilled at the notion of taking a walk down memory lane with a younger version of myself. Since we were seeing the 1 p.m. performance, the day started with brunch at Braddock’s – the restaurant inside the Renaissance that is just a short walk from the Cultural District. The Pirates were also playing at home, so downtown was bustling for a Sunday. We finished brunch early and thought it would be fun to people watch. It was certainly an eclectic group – theater goers mixed in with baseball fans. My favorite part was seeing all the little girls donning their princess dresses and tiaras on their way to the show. If you’ve not been to Heinz Hall, it’s a beautiful venue that is home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. It was built in 1927 as Loew's Penn Theatre and was renovated and reopened as Heinz Hall in 1971. It puts on about 200 performances each year. Once Cinderella was underway, I took note of some differences in the storyline compared to that of the Disney story to which I was so accustomed. However, the premise was the same – living with a wicked step-mother and her two step-sisters after her father passed away, Cinderella, with the help of her fairy godmother, makes it to the ball and is chosen by the handsome prince to be his bride. Within the storyline, though, Rodgers & Hammerstein conveyed two messages to the young Cinderellas in the audience – always choose kindness and you can be anything you want to be. I thought those were nice additions to the story. Hopefully, the young ladies attending the show will keep those two points in mind as they grow up and pursue their dreams, whatever those may be. As for me, I think I am going to peruse Zappos. After all, a new pair of shoes can make all the difference. Just ask Cinderella!

Putting your best foot forward, after all, that’s what feet are made for, right? Many of us spend a lot of time sedentary at our desks throughout the day so, you need to counteract that time your body thinks it is idle and get up and get moving. Just walk. This is a great workout for your body. On the inside, this cardio-vascular exercise will strengthen your vital organs like your heart and lungs in a relatively small amount of time while boosting your circulation. Exteriorly, this can help with loss of weight including a loss of inches around the waist and can even help to tone those troubled areas. Whether it be a power walk that is moderately high in intensity or a casual stroll, obviously, the effects are going to be greater with the more intensity, but whatever the pace of the day may be, it helps because it is not sedentary, which does nothing for us physically, or mentally! I have heard so many people say their back or knees won’t allow them to exercise, so they concede to a stationary lifestyle that leaves them feeling down in the dumps. Walking is so much easier on your bones and joints than many other exercise options out there. You want to have the best functioning body you can while you are stuck with it and certainly the sharpest mental state you can maintain throughout your life – so get up and get moving! Naturally, with age, muscles weaken and so does the brain. Fight back and protect what you have to work with as long as you can. Getting outdoors and staying active around your home are both free. All it takes is a commitment and determination. Initially, feeling the aches and pains may deter you, but push through it. Rub your feet and stretch your body. ‘No pain, no gain’ does have a bit of truth to it. In no time at all, you will find yourself looking forward to it, even striving to push your limits farther. I have always maintained an exercise regimen throughout my life, but walking is the one that has stuck with me with the most consistently. Three years ago, my neighbor and I committed to walking together. Our goal is to walk four miles about five days a week. We are always implementing something new to keep it exciting whether it be leg weights or arm weights or a sprint here or there, the latest brilliant idea we came up with, is walking backwards up hills. Granted our neighbors think we have lost our marbles and my, it hurts, but that tells us those are muscle we were using before. It challenges us and the best part is – we make it fun! Sometimes we can’t put in the four miles, so we say a couple laps is better than nothing. We both know how easy it is to skip a day or two and it takes a lot to jump back in. So, you have to come up with a plan to combat that when it happens because it will. It happens with all of us. 30 minutes a day would make such a difference in the way you feel. You may not have the physique of a bodybuilder but feeling better is what it is about and keeping yourself functioning to your best capacity in this one life we live. Walk on, friends!

For my mom, Mother’s Day should have been known as Saint Mother’s Day. From the outside, my mother came across as a soft spoken woman, who didn’t have a malicious bone in her body. She faithfully attended catholic church every Sunday and a number of days a week. She lived by the many principles of the church. She truly was the kindest, sweetest person I had ever known. She never complained about any of the hardships life forced on her. My mom always had a smile and a reassuring attitude, finding the positive in any situation. The message might be you are a stronger person for the experience faced or some other constructive message no matter what the circumstance. My one brother joked that if our house ever caught on fire, my mom would remark how beautiful the flames of the fire were. Always finding some positive conclusion from terrible circumstances, was one of my mom’s traits. With that said, my mother was the strongest person I have ever known. She raised 7 children as a single mom despite many hurdles and while working as a full time nurse. Her children were her life. She had no time for anything else but her faith, working and her children. I could tell hundreds of stories of where my mom made sacrifices for me, my siblings or some person needing help. She would volunteer for “Meals on Wheels” to routinely bring meals to senior citizens, or drive them to appointments. However, I would like to share one story from when I was a boy. We were without a car for a short period of time, probably from the many miles on the car driving her 7 kids to activities or helping out others. I had a basketball game on a cold winter night in February. The school was almost two miles away from my house, with “short cuts” through backyards and fields. My mom walked to the game with me, trudging through what I recall being over a foot of snow and in temperatures well below freezing. She walked with me, so she could watch my game and make sure I got there safely. She did so with a smile on her face and enthusiasm in her voice. She was always doing things for others. That “was” my mother. I say “was” not because she has passed away. I say “was” because she no longer has the capability to be the same person. She no longer can work a full time job. She can no longer drive. She can no longer take care of seven children. She can no longer even dress herself or take care of her daily needs without some assistance. My mom has severe dementia. I dare say she has undiagnosed Alzheimer’s. Seeing my mom have the difficulty, or at times the inability, to confirm the names of her children, or even to recall how many kids she mothered, is extremely difficult. Seeing the lack of recognition in my mom’s eyes for a the first few seconds seeing me between visit is heartbreaking. She has been in assisted living for a several years, yet each time I visit her during my trips back to Boston, she tells me, “you know I don’t live on Greenwood Road anymore.” It is a hideous disease, stealing one’s mind and ability to care for one’s self. It has not completely imprisoned my mother in a world where she doesn’t recognize her children each time or where she is completely unable to talk about some event in the past, but it is coming closer every day. I fear it will be here soon. However, I know as long as she is able to tell me, “I love you a whole big bunch!” all is good. I know that because that is something she heard me telling my young boys years ago during a visit to Pittsburgh. She began saying the same thing to me when we would say good bye and has continued to do so through her most recent challenges. She continues to have a big smile on her face and/or in her voice each time we say good and she tells me, “I love you a whole big bunch!” When she does say this it brings me huge happiness; not because she is telling me she loves me, but because I know if she can still remember that, she has not “passed away” and is still living.

Variety can be one of the things that keeps you motivated in a fitness program, but it can be difficult to achieve. While many gyms offer some group fitness classes, these classes can tend to become repetitive, and if you don’t like a particular type of class that is offered or become bored of it, you are less likely to do it. There are also endless options of workout videos available online, but it can become less than exciting for some people to exercise only in their home. If you are looking for a way to get out and try many different types of fitness classes, check out the facilities at different gyms and studios, and meet new people with similar interests, ClassPass may be a good option for you. ClassPass is a program that allows you to pay a flat monthly fee for a certain number of credits. The number of credits you receive depends on the amount that you choose to pay, for your particular city or area. You are then able to select from a wide variety of different fitness classes at participating studios in the area. Classes are offered pretty much round the clock, so it doesn’t matter whether you are a morning workout person or prefer to go late in the day, you can find something that will fit you schedule, as well as your interests. Not only are there a number of different types of classes, such as indoor cycling, yoga, circuit training, kickboxing, weightlifting, trampoline class, and many others, you can try the same type of class at different gyms with different instructors. That way, if you just don’t care much for a spin class at a particular gym, you may not have to write spin classes off entirely, but instead can just check out another one to see if it works better for you. ClassPass can be accessed from logging in on a computer or through the app that you can download to your phone. They generally offer a free week trial period with some credits so you can give it a try before fully committing, and they also offer reward credits or classes for referring a friend. You can “friend” other ClassPass members on the app as well, and see what kinds of classes your friends are taking and what kind of feedback and rating they have given to classes you may be interested in. The app also allows you to send a calendar event for any class you register for directly to your calendar, making it easier to schedule your workouts into your day and to plan ahead. So if you are looking to mix up your fitness endeavors, check it out! You might find your new favorite activity or gym, or just enjoy spicing up your workout routine.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently issued a decision that is of great importance to those attorneys practicing in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Specifically, the court refused to apply the “palpable-error” deference standard announced in McHugh v. Procter & Gamble, 776 A.2d 266 (Pa. Super. 2001) to the jury selection process in Allegheny County. In the case of Triggs v. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2018 PA Super 129 (Pa. Super. 2018), the court determined that Allegheny County Civil Division’s jury selection process deprived the Triggs’ right to a fair trial. The Civil Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County does not assign a trial judge to preside over jury selection. Instead, the “Calendar Control Judge” delegates that duty to a court clerk in the Jury Assignment Room. Potential jurors meet individually with the clerk and the parties’ attorneys. The clerk asks a series of standardized questions, and then the lawyers may pose five additional inquires. The clerk permits brief follow-up questions in an effort to fully appreciate the jurors’ replies. If an attorney wishes to challenge a juror for cause, the clerk notes the challenge, and, after interviewing all potential jurors, the clerk and attorneys return to the Calendar Control Judge’s courtroom. There, the judge, reading the transcript of what occurred just moments ago, and only a few yards away, rules on the challenges for cause. Allegheny County judges in the civil division do not view the demeanor of prospective jurors, unless an attorney asks for the juror to appear before the judge in chambers to recreate the initial voir dire. During the jury selection process, the Triggs moved to strike three potential jurors for cause believing that they exhibited such bias and prejudice that they could not be fair and impartial. A transcript was made of the jury selection process; the Calendar Control Judge reviewed the transcript and denied the Triggs’ request, thereby forcing the Triggs to exhaust three of their four pre-emptory challenges during jury selection. The case went to trial and resulted in a verdict for the defense. The Triggs appealed claiming that Allegheny County Civil Division’s jury selection process deprived the them of their right to a fair trial. On appeal, the Triggs attacked the trial court’s voir dire process on various grounds. First, they argued that the judge erred by not striking for cause the three “potential jurors" who exhibited such bias and prejudice that they could not have been fair. The hospital, quoting McHugh, countered, “hen a juror demonstrates a likelihood of prejudice by conduct or answers to questions, much depends on the answers and demeanor of the potential juror as observed by the trial judge and therefore reversal is appropriate only in the case of palpable error.” The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in adopting McHugh, recently explained: We defer to the trial judge because it is he or she that observes the juror’s conduct and hears the juror’s answers. The juror appears before the trial judge, who sees him and hears what is said; and is able to form his opinion as much from the proposed juror's conduct as from the words which he utters, printed in the record. Hesitation, doubt, and nervousness indicating an unsettled frame of mind, with other matters, within the judge's view and hearing, but which it is impossible to place in the record, must be considered. As it is not possible to bring these matters to our attention, the trial judge's view should be given great weight in determining the matters before him. Shinal v. Toms, 162 A.3d 429, 443-442 (Pa. 2017). Thus, the High Court placed great significance on the trial judge’s personal observation of the prospective jurors. In Triggs, the court determined that a judge personally witnessing the original voir dire is essential, because it justifies the appellate court’s faith, and a losing party’s faith in the trial court’s rulings on challenges for cause. In this case. The court found that the trial judge personally observed nothing; therefore, the count found no reason to extend the McHugh deference standard in this situation, where only the attorneys and the clerk witnessed the physical and verbal cues that the challenged jurors exhibited. The court explained that the trial judge acquired none of the wisdom or insight that he could have from noting a jurors’ furtive glance, a tremor of voice, a delayed reply, a change in posture, or myriads of other body language. Thus, according to the court, the McHugh deference standard did not apply. Nonetheless, the hospital argued that the Triggs’ failure to request a recreation of the initial questioning in this case constituted a waiver of this issue. The Triggs disagreed arguing that the time to assess the demeanor had passed that it was the prospective jurors “first impression” was what mattered. The court disagreed with the hospital regarding the re-questioning of the prospective jurors reasoning that they could never reproduce the authentic reactions that they displayed when the questions were originally asked. Additionally, the court believed that if the jurors are individually summoned from the panel to the Calendar Control Judge’s chambers for re-questioning, those jurors will have had extra time to rethink their answers. “They may even suspect there was a problem with their original responses and try to ‘fix’ them.” Finally, the court rejected the Hospital attempts to excuse the judge’s absence by relying on Rule of Civil Procedure 220.3(c), which provides: “The parties or their attorneys may conduct the examination of the prospective jurors unless the court itself conducts the examination or otherwise directs that the examination be conducted by a court employee. Any dispute shall be resolved by the court.” Again, the court determined that by not contemporaneously observing the jurors’ responses, when ruling on challenges for cause, the trial judge deprived himself of any greater perception of the jurors’ partiality than an appellate court can discern by reviewing the same, cold record. Thus, McHugh’s rationale for reversing only in the face of palpable error does not apply. Thus, the court held that the McHugh “palpable-error” deference standard shall be limited to instances where a trial judge has personally observed the original voir dire. Instead, the court applied a de novo scope of review, and in doing so found the first prospective juror to be biased in favor of physicians because her sister and brother-in-law were both doctors, and if “in a close call” she would tend to favor the medical profession. Citing to Shinal, the court reaffirmed that even “the slightest ground of prejudice is sufficient” to disqualify a potential juror. The court in citing to Commonwealth v. Johnson, 445 A.2d 509, 514 (Pa. Super. 1982) determined that the error in not striking the biased juror for cause was not harmless as it required the Triggs to use a preemptory challenge to have the biased juror removed. Accordingly, the court reversed the order denying a new trial and vacating the judgment entered upon the verdict, and remanded the matter for a new jury selection and trial.

The weather is getting warmer and one of my favorite beverages to enjoy while basking in the warm sun is Sun Tea. It’s called Sun Tea because all you need are a few ingredients and the sun to make it. It’s easy to make and the flavor is powerful. On mornings I know the weather is going to be incredible I prepare this drink and carry on preparing for my day while the tea is steeping. Typically, when I make this drink I plan on either having a refreshing summer salad or going the complete opposite and putting something on the grill. There are tons of Sun Tea recipes, but I thought I’d share my favorite Sun Tea recipe. INGREDIENTS: 8-12 tea bags (depending on how strong you like your tea) Fresh mint leaves Sugar or honey (optional) Lemon (optional) 1 gallon of water DIRECTIONS: Place the tea bags and mint in bottom of a large pitcher. Slowly fill with water. Cover the pitcher and place outside for at least 4 hours on a sunny or warm day. Bring inside and strain tea. Add sugar, honey or lemon if desired. Serve with ice and enjoy.

Like many people, my family and I have enjoyed camping over the years. We recently sold the fifth wheel camper that we’ve had for the last 12 years. The camper was beginning to show some signs of age, had a little bit of water damage due to a leak, and we no longer needed one quite that big. So, we decided it was time to sell it and look for a new, smaller one. It didn’t take long to find a buyer—we were fair about the price, and it was still a pretty nice camper, despite its age. As I watched the new buyer pull it out of my yard, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad. It was the third camper that we’ve owned, and we had owned it longer than any other. I basically watched my children grow up in this camper, so it was a little more special to me than the others. We have so many good memories of times spent in the camper. It’s what we lived in every year at the county fair when our kids showed their animals, and where I hugged my daughter as she cried the night her market hog was sold at auction. It’s where my son got in trouble for sneaking beer when he was a teenager (I guess that doesn’t count as a “good” memory). It was our home at Jamboree in the Hills, several Nascar races, and it even made a couple of trips to the beach. We also took many, many camping trips in it, and it provided my husband with shelter and a place to stay when he was working out of town. Maybe what they say is true — “home is where the heart is”, and it doesn’t really matter if it’s your permanent home, or a home on wheels. We thought we didn’t want another camper, but then we started reminiscing about all of the good times we’ve had in years past and decided we couldn’t give up camping completely just yet. After all, we have five grandsons to make new camping memories with.

The Young Lawyers’ Division of the Allegheny County Bar Association is involved with a Pittsburgh-based non-profit organization called Beverly’s Birthdays, and recently hosted a fundraiser to support the organization and its cause. The purpose of the organization is to provide birthday experiences to young children whose families are experiencing homelessness or are otherwise unable to provide birthday gifts or treats. This is accomplished through a variety of programs, including birthday parties that are hosted at agency locations by volunteers and donors who set up the parties, provide foods, treats and gifts. Families may also be eligible to receive “birthdays in a bag,” which are pre-packaged bags with items such as cake mix, candles, napkins, and plates so that a family is able host a small birthday party at their own location. Children in the Beverly’s Birthdays program can also receive a birthday gift, which contains age appropriate toys, a new book, and a set of toothbrush and toothpaste, or for newborns, parents may receive essential items for their new child. Beverly’s Birthdays also partners with schools in the Pittsburgh area to provide classroom birthday cheer kits, to help recognize students’ birthdays in the classroom where these children may otherwise have no opportunity to have their birthday acknowledged and celebrated. The program was founded by Megs Yunn, and is named  “Beverly’s Birthdays” because of a little girl named Beverly, who informed Ms. Yunn that she had never had a birthday party or birthday cake. This inspired Ms. Yunn to find a way to help children like Beverly experience the simple pleasure of a birthday celebration. The organization has grown significantly over its existence, and now helps thousands of children in the Pittsburgh area. Beverly’s Birthday relies on volunteers and donors, and there are many different ways that you can get involved. You can volunteer to help staff the birthday parties, bake cupcakes or put together birthday cheer packages. You can also donate in a number of ways, including on a monthly basis, or as a sponsor for a particular party or event. Gift donations are also always welcome. Special restrictions may apply to certain volunteer opportunities, so be sure to check the website for more information on how you can get involved, www.beverlysbirthdays.org. This is a great way to make an easy, yet very special, impact on a number of local children and to spread birthday cheer year-round!