Marv Gordon

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Transcript:  “I’ve been at Legal Aid about four and a half years. I’ve never worked with a more committed group of people. It’s a very different, people-oriented culture, and it’s just strikingly different than out in the general business world.

My father drove a taxi cab. My mom didn’t work, took care of me, basically. And I have these vague recollections of my mom talking about … I remember the term Legal Aid, Legal Aid Society. And I’m assuming my parents may have used the services at the time. I’m not sure, but we certainly were not a wealthy family. But that’s always kind of stuck in the back of my head.

The other part of working here that, personally, means a lot to me has to do with the fact that I had a cousin with Down syndrome. My cousin Sandy was close to my age, and her sister Judy had Down syndrome. And then later, my last child, Jenna, has special needs. She has something called Dandy-Walker syndrome, so I’ve personally been around various types of disabilities. Legal Aid has done work which has probably benefited my daughter in ways that I’m not even aware of—things that they’ve done over the past 10, 20, 30 years.

The work that’s done here really contributes to two things: equality and justice. You can have equality but not have justice, but having the two combined is a positive thing. And the work done by the attorneys and the rest of the people here, the advocates and everybody else, is geared toward equality and justice for everybody. And if you believe in those things, you get a good feeling that when you’re here, you in some way are contributing.

It’s been a wonderful experience being around people that really care about other people.”