2019 Lawyers for Tri-County Dinner Raises $135K for Freedom Scholars
A crowd of 150 leaders in the New Jersey legal community came out to support our three outstanding honorees for the 6th Annual Lawyers for Tri-County Awards Dinner, benefiting Tri-County Scholarship Fund’s (TCSF) Freedom Scholars Program, on Tuesday, May 14th at the Park Avenue Club in Florham Park, NJ.
Trustees of Justice Honorees: Honorable Julio M. Fuentes, Senior United States Circuit Judge, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals; Catherine P. Wells, Esq., Chair and Member, Labor and Employment Group for Chiesa, Shahinian & Giantomasi PC; Timothy I. Duffy, Esq., Founding Partner of Coughlin Duffy LLC
Honored at the 2019 dinner with Trustee of Justice Awards were:
Honorable Julio M. Fuentes, Senior United States Circuit Judge, US Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit
Timothy I. Duffy, Esq., Founding Partner of Coughlin Duffy LLP
Catherine P. Wells, Esq., Chair and Member, Labor and Employment Group, with Chiesa, Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
“We are thrilled to recognize the significant impact these three honorees have had for the benefit of our profession,” noted TCSF Trustees and event co-chairs Louis John Dughi, Esq of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, PC and Michael C. Zogby, Esq. of Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP, “and for the excellent service they have provided to the rule of law.”
Dinner Co-Chair Louis John Dughi, Esq., with Honorees: Honorable Julio M. Fuentes, Catherine P. Wells, Esq., Timothy I. Duffy, Esq.; Tri-County President, Prudence Pigott and Dinner Co-Chair, Michael C. Zogby, Esq.
Thanks to the generosity of our distinguished honorees and their supporters, as well as our trustees and donors, the dinner raised more than $135K! Proceeds of the dinner will fund 27 Tri-County high school Freedom Scholarships for the upcoming 2019-20 school year. Tri-County Scholarship Fund annually awards more than $1.2 MM in K-12 scholarships to 450+ of the state’s most financially disadvantaged children The Annual Lawyers Dinner directly benefits TCSF’s Freedom Scholars program –a partnership between TCSF, schools, and families, by assisting financially disadvantaged high school students who have also shown significant academic achievement. With the help of partial scholarships, these promising students are able to afford values-centered, private high schools that also help them with mentoring, tutoring, college prep courses and more.
Each of the Trustee of Justice Award recipients encouraged the students to to avoid letting their circumstances or setbacks keep them from pursuing their dreams. Honoree, Timothy Duffy, past Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Tri-County from 2010-2018, referred to Tri-County as the Cause of all Causes that not only changes the current students’ lives but also the generations of children who will follow.
Dinner attendees heard from current TCSF scholarship recipient, Genai Veal, who will graduate in June from the Mary Help of Christians Academy in North Haledon. Said Veal, “Mary Help of Christians and Tri-County Scholarship have done for me what family does. You have helped me become a contributing member of society, to develop important values, and to become my own person.” Genai will be attending Hamilton College in Virginia to study Chemical Engineering. Best of Luck, Genai!
TCSF alumnus, Matt Fung, a 2010 Tri-County Scholarship graduate of Paterson Catholic High School, and a 2014 summa cum laude Mechanical Engineering graduate of Rutgers University shared his personal story. Fung is currently employed as a Product Engineer for Arconic Engines. He gave an impassioned speech about how TCSF impacted his life and helped him and his family through the financial devastation of a health crisis. The entire room was brought to their feet in response to Matt’s triumphant story. Thank you, Matt, for your willingness to share your story with us!
In addition to the leadership of John Dughi and Michael Zogby as dinner Co-Chairs, Tri-County is grateful to the following trustees for serving on the dinner committee:
Shacara N. Delgado, Esq., Realogy Holdings Corporation;
Rick Diana, EFD Sales Consultants
Joseph Gonnella, Boy Scouts of America
Beth Hennessy, Edward L. Hennessy, Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Foundation
Trevor Jones, Ameriprise Financial Services
Samrat S. Khichi, Esq., Becton Dickinson
Nancy A. Lottinville, Esq., Prime Law
Lina M. Martinez, Esq., Atlas Copco North America
Paul L. Onderdonk, SIG LLP
Jessica Ortiz, Esq., MoloLamken LLP
Prudence Pigott, Tri-County Scholarship Fund
Some Tri-County Students from Mary Help of Christians Academy, Eastern Christian, Paramus Catholic, Morris Catholic, DePaul and Pope John XXIII High Schools