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Our Danbury Office Attorneys & Staff Make Holiday Donations

Cramer & Anderson Danbury office 2020 holiday donations

From left, Partner Lisa Rivas, Jessica Cavalier, Partner Jennifer Collins, Rosa Gutierrez, and Sonia Christie with donations for the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury.

The Partners and legal staff of Cramer & Anderson’s office in Danbury channeled their holiday spirit into donations to regional organizations devoted to advancing peace over violence, and embracing dignity and hope and over hate and discord.

The opportunity for one of the impactful donations came from the Greater Danbury Bar Association (GDBA). Having canceled the holiday party amid COVID, it suggested members instead send checks equal to the cost of attending the annual event to bundle into a donation to The Association of Religious Communities (ARC), based in Danbury.

ARC’s mission is “to alleviate the causes of violence, suffering, and hate, while advancing peace, justice, and human dignity.”

Cramer & Anderson Partner Jennifer Collins reached out to her fellow Partners in the Danbury office—Dan Casagrande, Kim Nolan, and Lisa Rivas—and all agreed to participate. A check was sent to the GDBA the day before Christmas Eve.

“The Greater Danbury Bar Association is very involved in the community and this was a wonderful way to turn a negative—the inability to hold a holiday party—into a positive for families who are truly struggling through this winter of COVID,” said Attorney Casagrande, a Municipal Law Partner who has served as Outside Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Danbury since 1990.

“It’s very heartening to look at ARC’s Facebook page and see the outpouring of donations of food for families and holiday gifts for children,” added Attorney Collins, whose practice focuses on Workers’ Compensation, Personal Injury, and Social Security Disability law.

The legal staff in the Danbury office, meanwhile, also arranged an initiative to give back during the holiday season. In place of a traditional holiday breakfast held before the Christmas break. Paralegal Jessica Cavalier collected monetary donations from attorneys and staff and partnered with the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury to create a holiday gift basket to help a local family have brighter holidays.

The gift basket included gift cards, toys for the children, and a few gifts for the Mom.

“Everyone was truly inspired by Jessica’s idea to replace our breakfast event with an effort to aid the Women’s Center’s mission of combating and ending domestic violence by assisting a family that needs help this holiday season,” said Partner Lisa Rivas, an Immigration Law attorney. “Cramer & Anderson has had attorneys on the Women’s Center’s board and we always have a team participating in the SafeWalk event to raise much-needed funds for services like the emergency residential facility, counseling, advocacy, and education.”

Founded in 1975, the Women’s Center has provided a safe haven as the sole provider of services to victims of domestic and sexual violence in the Northern Fairfield and Southern Litchfield County areas. It’s Facebook page reflects its efforts this winter and the donations coming in this holiday season.

Those who want to join in the spirit of holiday giving and make end-of-the-year donations should be aware of a special new income tax provision that allows taxpayers to deduct up to $300 in donations to qualifying charities made before December 31, 2020.

The measure, designed to help sustain tax-exempt organizations in these difficult times, is an outgrowth of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act enacted last spring—and even those who don’t itemize will be able to easily take the deduction when filing their taxes in 2021.

Working With Cramer & Anderson

Our attorneys and staff are working in our offices, where proper sanitation and social distancing measures remain strictly observed amid the COVID-19 coronavirus, as well as remotely.

Attorneys are available as usual by phone or email, and are also connecting with clients using technology such as Zoom. For more information, see the firm’s website or call the flagship office in New Milford at (860) 355-2631. Other regional offices are located in Danbury, Ridgefield, Kent, Washington Depot, and Litchfield.

 

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