Michael Freeborn and I founded the Willow Creek Legal Aid Ministry in March 2009, after months of breakfasts, planning, and prayer. Eventually, one morning over breakfast, we decided we would just show up at the Willow Creek Care Center, a food pantry, and provide free legal services to anyone who needed them. Now, nearly four years later, we have served nearly 4000 individuals free of charge in family law, consumer debt, immigration, foreclosure, and many other areas of law. We have 20 lawyer volunteers, four translators, three volunteers who follow-up with each individual with whom we meet, and two devoted administrators, who help with our line and intake.
We are not just a legal aid clinic, though. We call ourselves a ministry for a reason. Our mission is to demonstrate God's love by seeking justice for the under-resourced, and to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ to those with whom we meet when led to do so by the Holy Spirit. We ground our mission in Isaiah 1:17, which says: "Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."
Also, all of our volunteers are from our church, Willow Creek Community Church! It is the only legal aid service we know of staffed fully by the congregation!
We serve at the Care Center in Hoffman Estates every Tuesday morning from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and every Tuesday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
If you would like to volunteer, please email me at kellye.fabian@gmail.com.
