Arms Around Arkadelphia '24

During the week of June 10-14, 2024, the annual Arms Around Arkadelphia service projects took place, organized by First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia. As in years past (described here), members of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association participated.

I love working with this group. Every year, there is a laser focused mission on getting projects done, which makes a difference every time, no matter the project. The home-cooked meal at lunch each day is also phenomenal.

This year, the ATLA crew was tasked with demolition and reconstruction of a deck, as follows:

Later in the morning, the ATLA crew got pulled off this project to help pour concrete. This was the finished product on the deck:

I haven’t poured concrete as an AAA project. New experiences and learning new craftsmanship techniques are another reason I love participating in these projects.

After the ATLA crew’s work was done, a ramp was installed:

Another reason I love these projects is the people. Our group had people from northwest Arkansas pitching in to help. The time spent with the ATLA crew is also special:

From left to right, me, Brian Trubitt, and jay neal. not pictured, but also present, was alan levar

If you’re interested in getting involved with Arms Around Arkadelphia, either with your time or financially, or both, contact me at taylor@chaneylaw.com or David McAlister at davidmcallister36@gmail.com.

Arms Around Arkadelphia - 2023

On June 13, 2023, several members of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association participated in the annual Arms Around Arkadelphia service projects organized by First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia.

Readers of this blog may recall ATLA’s participation in prior years, here, here, and here. For 2023, the ATLA crew’s job was demolition of a shed, pictured below. The shed belonged to the homeowner’s father, who passed away a few years ago. The health issues of the homeowner gave us the opportunity to help.

After getting the electricity turned off, we cleaned out the inside of the shed as best we could:

removing the window was the final prep before demolition began

While we’re always willing to do whatever is needed, I’ve observed demolition is a coveted activity of ATLA members. A lot of our time is spent talking on the phone, or looking at computer screens reading cases, court rules, evidence rules, etc. Getting exercise, and working outside is always a nice change of pace. And, as if the demolition were not enough, we were instructed to burn the debris and haul the roof to the street:

THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THE SHED HAD BEEN STRIPPED AT THIS POINT AND THE ONLY THING LEFT TO DECIDE WAS WHICH DIRECTION IT WAS GOING TO COME DOWN

Once we got the shed down, we quickly discovered separating the roofing from the plywood was the biggest challenge of the whole project due to tar melting the two together:

We finally just chainsawed the underlying supporting structures and removed the plywood sheets, burned the plywood sheets that we were able to remove the roofing, and separated the rest into a separate pile to take to the street.

SHORTLY AFTER THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN, WE DECIDED IT WAS TIME FOR LUNCH

I always look forward to lunch every year during Arms Around Arkadelphia. It is a potluck full of homemade goodness cooked by members of the First Baptist Church. It’s also a good time to catch up with longtime friends, and to make new ones. This year, we were fortunate enough to have members of a youth group join us after lunch, who proved to be a great help in finishing the project:

With the reinforcements after lunch, we were able to finish in a reasonable amount of time. Many thanks to them, and to Arms Around Arkadelphia for allowing us to participate again this year.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ATLA MEMBERS CALEB BAUMGARDNER OF THE BAUMGARDNER LAW FIRM IN EL DORADO; BRIAN TRUBITT OF TAYLOR KING & ASSOCIATES IN ARKADELPHIA; TAYLOR CHANEY OF CHANEY LAW FIRM, P.A. IN ARKADELPHIA; AND JAY NEAL OF TAYLOR KING & ASSOCIATES IN ARKADELPHIA.

If you’re interested in getting involved with Arms Around Arkadelphia, either with your time or financially, or both, contact me at taylor@chaneylaw.com or David McAlister at davidmcallister36@gmail.com.

Doing your part: small efforts make big differences

With the recent water issues experienced in Arkadelphia during the week of July 15-19, I was reminded of a service project last summer where the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation helped provide water to residents in Flint, Michigan.

On April 25, 2014, the Flint’s municipal government decided to change its water service to the local Flint River to save money, but did not treat the water; this resulted in dangerous levels of lead leaching into the water from old pipes, and putting the public at risk. Flint’s local government eventually declared a state of emergency.

A Flint native, Asia Hill, lives in Arkadelphia, and wanted to help. Several Arkadelphia law firms provided the funding, and on September 9, 2018, the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation transported 500 cases of water to up to Michigan. The Daily Siftings Herald reported on the project, as follows:

The contributing law firms received the following certificates for their efforts:

While Arkadelphia’s water issues only lasted 4 days, the water system in Flint is still contaminated over 5 years later. State and Federal assistance totals are over $450 million. Here is what the EPA has done about it. Here is a way to help through the United Way.

I’m thankful to our local leaders and city employees who got Arkadelphia’s water issues resolved in only four days, which puts Flint’s water crises into perspective. I’m proud to have been a part of a project that contributed to the disaster in Flint, even if it was only a small part. Here is how you can make a difference.

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Like last year, several members of the Arkansas Trial Lawyer’s Association helped with Arms Around Arkadelphia (“AAA”) in 2019. This year’s project for the ATLA crew involved stripping a wheelchair accessible ramp and repainting it:

Pictured above are Jay Neal (left) and Austin King (right) finishing up the paint job.

Most of the work involved with the ramp above was getting the old paint stripped off, which required the efforts of those pictured below:

Pictured above from left to right: Ed Zellmer, Peter Miller, P.A.; Brian Trubitt, Taylor King & Associates; Jay Neal, Taylor King & Associates; Amanda Boulden, Arkansas Trial Lawyer’s Association; Taylor Chaney, Chaney Law Firm, P.A.; Jessica Mallett, Peter Miller, P.A.; Paige Edgin, Peter miller, p.a.; and austin king, taylor king & associates.

AAA completed several other projects across the community. The AAA program is an outstanding annual event taking place in late May and early June each year. If you're interested in participating in the AAA projects in 2020, contact David McAllister at d_mcallister@suddenlink.net. I’m already looking forward to it.

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At the annual meeting of the Arkansas Bar Association in June, the Young Lawyer’s Section organized a service project bringing bar members together in partnership with The Pack Shack, who’s mission is to supply provisions and opportunities for our neighbors in need, as follows:

There were several tables with four people assigned to a funnel, with each person performing an assembly line task to make individually packaged meals, as follows:

for every 1,000 meals made, someone banged the gong.

The entire legal community was represented as Circuit Judges, Court of Appeals Judges, Supreme Court Judges, and attorneys practicing in every area of law participated together. In just a few hours, we packaged over 10,000 meals for hungry Arkansas residents.

I hope the Bar continues performing service projects at the annual meeting, and starts doing them at the mid-year meeting in February each year.

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Whether it was funding for water to help our brothers and sisters in need in Flint, Michigan, or repainting a wheelchair ramp for our brothers and sisters at home in Arkadelphia, or packaging meals for hungry Arkansas residents, being able to contribute in some small part has been fulfilling for all attorneys involved, and especially me. If you have a project in need of funding or in need of manpower to get the job done, please contact us.

Arms Around Arkadelphia - reprised

From June 4-8, 2018, Arms Around Arkadelphia ("AAA") resumed work. If you follow this blog, then you'll remember the last blog post was about AAA's two-day projects from May 18-19, 2018. For the week-long reprisal, I was assigned to help rebuild the shower at Sammy and Flora Blackmon's home with Mr. Byron Jones, Dr. Jimmy Hankins, and Ms. Freddie Whiting. Mr. Jones' grandson, Cole, also pitched in for a couple of days.

Monday, June 4, 2018

We arrived on the job site around 8:30 am and got started shortly after that. Here is what it looked like then:

Then the fun began:

The slideshow below documents what we accomplished on day number one.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Mr. Jones was a master plumber, and did a great job directing Dr. Hankins, Freddie, and me.

Day #2 brought light at the end of the tunnel, as seen below.

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Day #3 brought hanging sheet rock, and using liquid nails to install the paneling, as seen below.

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Day #4 had two projects take place at the same time and place. At the 2018 ATLA Convention, I was nominated to be the New Lawyer Network's first Community Service Committee chair. Our first service project as a group was demolishing this shed for the Blackmons, while the shower project was ongoing:

Mr. Blackmon told us his father built the shed in the '50s. Before we could begin demolition, the contents of the shed were removed:

Then the fun began:

We also found some cool stuff in the shed:

This old lawn mower was found underneath the floor of the shed.

This World War 2 era canteen also came out of the shed.

The Daily Siftings Herald was there to document our demolition activities:

Other projects the ATLA crew worked on included power washing at a local non-profit, and helping paint the ceiling of another homeowner.

Pictured from left to right are Jay Neal and Richard Bright.

The ATLA crew included from left to right, Jessica Mallett of the Law Offices of Peter Miller in Little Rock; Amanda Boulden with the ATLA office located in Little Rock; Caleb Baumgardner of the Baumgardner Law Firm in El Dorado; Brian Trubitt and Jay Neal of Taylor King & Associates in Arkadelphia; Nader Afsordeh of the Law Offices of Peter Miller in Little Rock; me; Joseph Gates of the Paul Byrd Law Firm in Little Rock; and Chase Mangiapane of the Law Offices of Peter Miller in Little Rock. Not pictured:  Richard Bright of Taylor King & Associates in Arkadelphia.

While we were demolishing the shed, Mr. Jones, Dr. Hankins, and Freddie carried on with the shower project:

Friday, June 8, 2018

The shower project shaped up nicely on the last day:

Monday, June 11, 2018

We didn't quite get finished on Friday, so the final pieces were put in place the following Monday.

It was a great week. We all learned a lot working with Mr. Jones, and I enjoyed spending time with my former dentist, Dr. Hankins. Freddie began the week as a cheerleader, and ended it ready to build a house. The ATLA crew also enjoyed getting out of their offices to come help others in the Arkadelphia community.

AAA completed 15 other projects, and also provided trash removal and landscaping. Each day lunch and dinner were provided at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, which were all fantastic. Music and a short devotional were provided at each dinner. While a lot of participants in AAA were First Baptist Church members, there were also a significant amount of people who were not. People from all over the community (and beyond) came together for the purpose of helping Arkadelphians. It was a unifying experience that I hope to contribute toward in the coming years. If you're interested in participating in the AAA projects next year, contact David McAllister at d_mcallister@suddenlink.net.

Arms around Arkadelphia

On May 18-19, 2018, First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia had their annual two-day service projects around town. Several volunteers within the community joined First Baptist Church in making home improvements for elders within the community.

There were approximately 32 projects on the list, which included homes in Gurdon. Taylor joined a group who tore down a rotted porch, and rebuilt a deck in its place, which is seen below.

Arms around Arkadelphia will have its week long service projects from June 4-8.

If you are interested in helping, please fill out the following form, and return it to Mr. David McAllister at d_mcallister@suddenlink.net.

For more information about the Arms around Arkadelphia program, click here and here, which show projects from prior years.