Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Philadelphia-Area "Good Works" News

Posted by Leah Ludwig

Despite the economic recession we find ourselves in, there are still companies and business professionals out there supporting their communities with monetary donations and good deeds. We stumbled across some examples of philanthropic goodness among a handful of our clients this week and thought we would share their community outreach efforts with you.

Each year, the staff of Philadelphia personal injury law firm Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock & Dodig donates time, funds and/or needed items to a local charitable organization in honor of the firm’s efforts to build better lives for others. The Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House was the most recent recipient of the staff’s efforts, receiving more than $500 in monetary donations and a bevy of items collected as part of a 2009 Wish List Drive organized by Kathleen Aretz. The wish list items included retail gift cards, cameras, batteries, infant care items, electronics and toys valuing several thousand dollars.

Stanley Goldis, a Philadelphia CPA and partner with Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP, was recently thanked by Bala Cynwyd Library for providing pro bono tax return services. Since 1992, Goldis has provided annual accounting services. He also served as the library’s treasurer for 10 years. When Goldis, a Bala Cynwyd resident, was asked why he feels that it is important to share his professional talents with organizations in his community, he said, “I was taught by my father that you have to give back to the community where you live. It is your obligation to help those less fortunate.”

Goldis also handles pro bono work in an advisory capacity for Chasdei Eliyahu, a nonprofit in Wynnewood, Pa., that accepts donations of furniture, clothing, kosher food, money and automobiles for needy members of the Greater Philadelphia community. He serves on the endowment committee for Torah Academy of Greater Philadelphia and on the board of directors for the Stern Hebrew High School in Philadelphia. He was honored at the inaugural dinner of Ohr Shalom Synagogue, in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, for his efforts in the establishment of a permanent facility there. An avid cyclist, Goldis has participated in the Wheels of Love bicycle ride to benefit Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem.

Thank you for being stewards of hope to our Philadelphia-area communities in these tough times.

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