IN 2018, LEGAL AID ADDRESSED 6,155 INDIVIDUAL LEGAL
PROBLEMS IN EAST TENNESSEE
HELPING 12,108 PEOPLE
Click HERE to donate now.

I invite you to spend few minutes reading a short story about one of the many thousands of people you helped Legal Aid of East Tennessee serve last year.

 A severely physically disabled woman who we will call “Joyce” lived in public housing. One evening, someone attacked her in the parking lot of her complex and stole her wallet. Joyce’s rent money was in the stolen wallet, which meant Joyce could not pay her rent on time that month. Joyce tried to make arrangements to pay the rent in installments; however, the apartment manager refused this offer and threatened to evict Joyce if she did not agree to get a representative payee to handle her Social Security payments. In other words, the manager arbitrarily decided Joyce should not be allowed to have control over her own money any longer. When Joyce refused, the manager made good on her threat. Joyce called Legal Aid, and we represented her in the eviction action. By the time the case went to trial, Joyce had paid the missing rent in full. Because she had the help of a Legal Aid lawyer, Joyce won the lawsuit and was allowed to stay in her home and retain the right to control her own money.

Like Joyce, thousands of the 315,000 East Tennesseans face problems that could be solved if they could afford to hire a lawyer. Help Legal Aid create more happy endings like Joyce’s in 2019 and beyond by making a donation today. We make it simple and easy for you to make a very powerful change in the lives of thousands of good, hard-working East Tennesseans. All it takes is a few minutes to write a check or to go online and donate at www.laet.org.

If you have given this year, thank you for your generosity! Please enjoy our Annual Report on Legal Aid’s work last year by clicking here.   If you have not yet donated, please consider the impact your gift of justice will make on the lives of East Tennesseans.

Sincerely,

Sheri A. Fox, Executive Director

OUR MISSION:

Strengthening communities and changing lives through high-quality legal services

OUR VISION:

An East Tennessee where justice is a community value and no one faces a legal problem alone