Sharon Thompson, Associate Vice-President, Dean, Liberal Studies Kathleen M. Smith, Chair, Department of Social Science David Freeman, Associate Professor, Social Science

Providing real world skills The value of service Community engagement

Locating Service Learning Opportunities Non-Profits, Community Organizations The Value of (Service-learning) Projects that are turn-key.

What can your students actually do? How much training might be necessary? Availability of training resources? What is a realistic time commitment for your students? Can the skills they have be effective within the timeframe permitted?

Willing to commit to a first step Flexible enough to recognize the need for adjustments to accommodate service learning An organized project model in place

Excellent! Everyone was a pleasure to work with and so helpful. A ++ service. Thank you!! - Anonymous comment from client survey

Created following 9/11, this non- profit sought to address the need for first-responders to have end-of-life instructions for their survivors.

To address the need for first responders to have estate planning documents. Despite the inherently dangerous nature of their jobs, an overwhelmingly large number of first responders – approximately 80-90% do not have even simple wills.

The program operates throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division hosts the Wills for Heroes/Pennsylvania site.

First Responders are pre-screened prior to the event Screening diverts first responders whose financial circumstances are not a good match for the Wills for Heroes assistance.

First Responders complete an estate planning questionnaire. This allows participants to think through and talk about a number of important decisions with their loved ones. Wills For Heroes Pennsylvania Estate Planning Questionnaire

Estate planning documents for each participating first responder are produced in about one hour.

An incentive for a volunteer attorney is the opportunity for obtaining Continuing Legal Education credits.

We obtained one credit of continuing legal education for the training session that precedes the event. Once this credit was obtained, we offered the training free of charge.

The training session prior to meeting appointments is conducted by volunteer, experienced attorneys. This training is on the site of the event, takes about one hour and provides an opportunity to evaluate the software program that will prepare the wills and other documents

The software program, HotDocs, prepares the questionnaire that is used and creates the estate planning documents: Will, Medical Directive and Durable Power of Attorney. Student volunteers are trained in the use of this software as part of their class in Legal Technology or at a separate session.

Upon arrival, First Responders are teamed with attorney and paralegal team, with appointments being scheduled each hour.

Paralegal and attorney review the questionnaire and create a draft of the documents.

Following creation, volunteer experts review the draft with the clients.

Following review, the final version of all the documents are created and clients are forwarded to a Notary station

The Notary Station is the point at which the clients and witnesses execute their documents. Following execution, all documents notarized and clients leave with a fully-executed package of documents.

In an effort to evaluate the experience of our students, a survey was crafted and administered through the website, Survey Monkey. Sample Questions: 1.What if any did you learn from this service-learning project about technology or wills? 2.What if any did you learn about working with clients and attorneys?

Reinforced the value of skills learned Value of service learning to reinforce the usefulness of skills. I was use to just typing out a will and not really sure what everything meant. The hot docs program allows you to see the breakdown of the formation provided by the client and how it becomes a legal document. I felt very comfortable working with the clients and it was an enjoyable experience. I would like to continue to volunteer in the future.