Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU public media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Leslie Powell-Bedrow. I'm the Executive Director at Legal Services of North Florida. What brought me to legal services first was that it's a way of solving problems. I think it's a way of using the law as a tool to help make people's lives better. Most people don't come to us on their best day. They're facing tragic circumstances. They're facing homelessness, loss of their family, abuse, horrible things that many of us can't even imagine, but many of us have dealt with. And trying to give those individuals and families a space to recover, to become better, to move on from whatever situation they've faced is a really empowering place to be. It's incredibly rewarding for those of us who work within legal services to be able to work with a family and make those changes for them. The thing I want people to know about legal services of North Florida is it is a culture of the law and my husband jokes that I'm glint of the good lawyer. So I think it's funny and certainly in a lawyer culture and a world where sometimes lawyers don't have the best reputation. I just would remind people that there are good lawyers out there. And many of them work for legal services of North Florida or fall in here with legal services of North Florida. And I am grateful to be a part of that team and a part of that culture. I'd say the people who inspire me most are our clients. It is those clients who we know will be able to go back out after we've achieved a result for them and continue giving to the community and raising their families and doing good for the world. That ultimately is the thing that motivates me every day. My name is Leslie Powell-Budrow. I'm the executive director at Legal Services of North Florida where we believe in a clear pathway to justice. You're listening to voices that inspire.