Romanucci & Blandin proud to support The Justinian Society’s annual Children’s Endowment Fund Grant Reception

CHICAGO- (March 22, 2024) – Romanucci & Blandin is proud to support The Justinian Society of Lawyers, which held its 22nd annual Children’s Endowment Fund (CEF) Grant Reception on March 14, 2024. Justinian President Michael D. Pisano and Justinian Society Endowment Fund’s Chairman Frank A. Sommario presented a total of $10,000.00 allocated between a $5,000.00 grant to Almost Home Kids and a $5,000.00 grant to La Casa Norte.  

The Justinian Endowment Fund, the fundraising arm of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that consists of the Scholarship Fund and the CEF.   Each year, the Scholarship Fund awards scholarships to deserving law students, and the CEF awards grant money annually to one or more worthy recipients.  The CEF is particularly grateful to Joseph Feinberg and the Feinberg Foundation for their consistent and significant annual financial contributions to the CEF. 

The March 14, 2024 event was held at Lux Bar, 18 E. Bellevue, Chicago, IL, where over 45 people attended and enjoyed a wonderful meal and cocktails.  Raeann P. Olsen-Jackson, Director of Development of Almost Home Kids and Jose M. Muñoz, CEO of La Casa Norte were on hand to graciously accept the grants and provide the attendees about Almost Home Kids and La Casa Norte and how the grant money would be used by each.   

The mission of the CEF is to assist disabled or disadvantaged children in our community. Since establishing the CEF in 2002 during his term as president, Antonio M. Romanucci, Founding Partner of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, and his fellow Justinian members have raised crucial funds for a wide range of recipients, including Make-A-Wish Foundation, Bear Necessities, Ronald McDonald House of Chicagoland, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Reflections Foundation, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Child’s Voice, Maryville Academy Children’s Healthcare Center, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, CASA Kane County, Fox Valley Special Recreation Foundation, Direct Effect Charities, Saint Anthony Hospital, and many others.

During this presentation, several members of the Society made spontaneous personal additional donations to the CEF, which will be tabulated and directed to the grant recipients as an additional donation.  This generosity has continuously been done over the years at past events and has become a tradition.  

“The Justinian Society is fervent in continuing to give back to our community and we thank all members who have contributed,” said Justinian President Michael Pisano. “Almost Home Kids and La Casa Norte are incredibly worthy recipients of these funds and we commend all that they do for children that are in need,” said Romanucci & Blandin Senior Partner and past Justinian President Frank A. Sommario.

Almost Home Kids

Almost Home Kids is a short-term pediatric healthcare organization that is community-based in 3 locations throughout Illinois. Their mission is to provide a bridge from hospital to home through an innovative community-based system of care for children with medical complexities. They respond to the needs of families, train caregivers, offer respite care, advocate for accessibility and inclusion, and educate healthcare professionals.  Almost Home Kids (AHK) will use the grant to support their Respite Care Program, which provides safe, comfortable medical care for children with medical complexities. Respite Care is a temporary break from 24/7 caregiving. AHK provides nearly 600 Respite Care days each year. The Respite Care Program offers children a place to stay with while their parents tend to personal or family issues. Their goal is to give parent caregivers a much-needed break. This supportive service allows parents to de-stress, tend to other children, and rejuvenate themselves for the future demands of raising a child with medical complexities.

La Casa Norte

La Casa Norte serves unaccompanied youth and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness in disinvested Chicago neighborhoods. They provide shelter, stable housing, and wraparound services that transform lives and communities.  Grant funding will provide critical programmatic and operational support for La Casa Norte’s Youth Continuum of Care, which annually serves nearly 1,000 unaccompanied youth and youth-led families experiencing homelessness in Chicago. Through years of development and recalibration, they have honed a Housing First service model that is bilingual, trauma-informed, culturally competent, and impactful. They deliver a coordinated network of youth drop-ins, emergency shelters, and supportive housing programs (short term, transitional, and permanent) – all supplemented with transformative wraparound services and 1:1 case management.

About Romanucci & Blandin, LLC

Romanucci & Blandin is a Chicago-based national trial practice committed to fighting for victims of negligence, abuse and wrongful death through impact litigation. For more than 25 years, we have secured more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements for our clients - many for millions of dollars or record-setting awards. Our experience ranges from mass shootings, civil rights and police misconduct to medical malpractice, sexual abuse, motor vehicle accidents or workplace injury cases involving individual or institutional negligence. Romanucci & Blandin is a valuable legal resource to individuals and groups of people who have been injured by others’ wrongdoing. Referring attorneys and clients say several factors distinguish our firm: Our record of success, depth of experience, talented and dedicated legal team, tireless preparation, and strategic use of communications to fight for the rights of those whose lives have been changed forever. We differ from other personal injury firms in that our work does not stop when a verdict or settlement is secured. Our clients’ experiences often inspire us to commit resources to transforming lives and communities. For more information about Romanucci & Blandin, please visit: www.rblaw.net.