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On a picture-perfect summer afternoon last week, a group of women lawyers and judges in Allen County put aside their gavels and law books to help their community by joining Habitat for Humanity in building a house for a local family.
“As lawyers, we’re interacting with people on a professional level to help them,” said Megan Torres, a litigation and employment lawyer with Beckman Lawson in Fort Wayne. “But this is just a different way to help people in need. That’s a nice thing to exercise every once in a while.”
Torres was among the four women attorneys — also including Stephanie Crandall, Jenny Gosheff and Lakisha Woods — who participated in the Habitat for Humanity Women Build on Aug. 24 at 441 E. Creighton Ave. in Fort Wayne. They worked alongside Allen Superior Court, Family Relations Division Judges Lori Morgan and Andrea Trevino and Magistrate Judges Carolyn Foley, Beth Webber and Taylor Beaty.
The event was hosted by the Women’s Section of the Allen County Bar Association. Each woman who participated made a monetary donation of $50 to Habitat for the privilege of volunteering.
Previously, the Women’s Section helped build a Habitat home in 2019. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic halted subsequent involvement until this summer.
Morgan was part of the team that helped construct the home in 2019, and she said she readily signed up for this year’s build.
“When this opportunity came up again this year, I volunteered because I just recognized the good that we did,” Morgan said. “I wanted to do it again, even though I knew it would be hard work and it wasn’t going to be great on my body.”
From noon until 3 p.m., the women worked on the interior of the home, handling tasks like laying floors and hanging shelves in a closet. They wielded hammers and used drills and electric saws as they did their parts to create a livable space.
“We were actually working,” Morgan said, “and I’ve got the sore muscles to prove it.”
Morgan never enrolled in a shop class and, at first, struggled to use the electric saw. However, her determination coupled with the aid of a Habitat volunteer who calmly showed her what to do, enabled her to master the task.
Torres arrived at the worksite with some skills. She has done some minor home repairs, such as fixing a door handle that is “getting jiggly,” and she had helped with some refurbishment projects as part of the United Way Day of Caring. But she had never done heavy construction work on a home.
“I just thought it was a great opportunity,” Torres said. “You get to go and work on some other skills besides the ones you use in your legal career and you get to do that with other attorneys. So it’s kind of nice to be around each other outside of a strict professional setting.”
Morgan also said she enjoyed the camaraderie that came from building a home with other judges and attorneys. She noted she was able to spend time with some of her courthouse colleagues whom she does not get to see often because of their busy schedules.
During their time working on the home, the lawyers and judges got to meet the woman who will be moving in with her family when the house is completed. Morgan described the future homeowner as “delightful.”
When their shift was over, the women legal professionals departed the job site and returned to the world of motions, hearings, settlements and rulings. Morgan went home, took a shower, then sat at her computer and returned to her judicial responsibilities.
“I felt like what I’m doing is a helping ministry,” Morgan said. Working in the law “and then doing this with Habitat through the Allen County Bar Association is a helping ministry to me.”
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