ALA Tulsa supports ALA’s mission of representing professional legal management and managers to the legal community and to the community at large.

What happens when one gathers 20 ALA members, vendors, family members and vinyl siding? A lot of teamwork and fun! On the windy morning of Saturday, November 8, we met at a north Tulsa location where 4 houses were being completed in time for the families to move in before Thanksgiving. Our mission - to install vinyl siding on all four of the sheds - and to make it tougher - the siding had to match the color of each house!

I don’t know about you but I have never installed siding before but thanks to the teamwork and a little guidance from the contractor we completed the project by 1:00 that day with no major injuries to boot! Albeit, I had a hard time getting out of bed the next day but I believe fun was had by all and several of us have learned a new skill or two.

Some noteworthy comments received were as follows: A worthy and productive project. Thank you for inviting us. I sure had a good time doing it- never have done siding myself, so that was an experience! Always fun to watch the dynamics on group projects! Our office had a wonderful time and we all enjoyed it as well! We all kicked butt! It was FUN!!! I did enjoy the project and have the added knowledge that we could side a house in a pinch!

Julee Thomas, 2008 ALA Tulsa Community Outreach Chair

In 2008, as part of the 10th anniversary of Community Challenge Weekend (CCW), ALA celebrated this milestone by undertaking a special one-time organizational effort to help make a difference in the lives of children around the world. For this commitment, we were asked to support The Smile Train, an international charity whose mission is to provide free surgeries to thousands of children who suffer from cleft lips and palates.

Clefts are a major problem in developing countries. Most children with unrepaired clefts cannot eat or speak properly, aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job, and face very difficult lives filled with shame and isolation, pain, and heartache.

Since 2000, The Smile Train has provided this important surgery for more than 350,000 children who would otherwise never receive it. (The average age of a Smile Train patient is 6 years old.) The organization also has helped train over 23,000 medical professionals and has established programs and partners in 76 countries.

While one might think that these surgeries are expensive and take a lot or time … that is not the case. Cleft repair surgery is relatively inexpensive to perform (as little as $250) and takes as little as 45 minutes. That’s all it takes to give a desperate child not just a new smile, but a new life.

The Tulsa Chapter participated by selling Montag Candles (Montag being a local Tulsa area vendor) during the holidays. Through the efforts of several firms, we are sending Smile Train a check in the amount of $1,422.84 which will help change the lives of 6 children as they receive corrective surgery for their “smiles”. Thanks to all the firms that participated by selling candles.

Every year, ALA Tulsa adopts families at Christmas. These families are typically chosen through a school-related situation. We provide support to families who find themselves in difficult situations during the holidays by shopping for, wrapping and delivering Christmas presents.

2006 ALA Community Challenge Project Laura Dester Center

The Tulsa ALA Chapter chose to provide a fall festival for the children of the Laura Dester Center (Department of Human Services), which is a 24-hour stopping point between troubled homes and foster care. For Halloween, we provided an avenue for them to create decorations while providing some camaraderie with our members and their peers by providing several games and a photo opp! We set up craft areas for the children’s involvement.

Craft stations offered Dryer Sheet Ghosts & Cat Bags, Halloween Banners, Q-tip Skeletons, Sparkling Spiders, Pumpkin Garland, Wooden Cats and Jack-o-lantern painting and Pumpkin and Cookie Decorating. One of our members owns a Harley Davidson motorcycle which he brought and allowed the children to have their pictures taken on or with.

ALA Tulsa was grateful to our partnering business partners and law firms for their assistance in making the 5th grade graduation day at Anderson Elementary a tremendous success.  The ceremony took place on June 9th in the school auditorium and our own Andrea Everage was one of the featured speakers.  Thanks to the financial support of our chapter and the generosity of our business partners and law firms, each student received a personalized engraved medallion as well as an ALA tote bag (graciously provided by ALA headquarters) containing candy, educational supplies and dental hygiene items.  The students, faculty, parents and guests were treated to cake and punch following the ceremony.

Operation “Welcome to Tulsa” - ALA Tulsa once again joined with other ALA chapters across the U.S. and around the world and participated in ALA’s annual Community Challenge Weekend.  In the past, we have been involved in a variety of activities; yard work for the elderly, collecting “HUGS” (hats, underwear, gloves and socks) for school children and various projects at Anderson Elementary including last year’s project of painting a mural.  This year’s project, Operation “Welcome to Tulsa” supported victims of Hurricane Katrina.

With the devastation left by the hurricanes so prevalent on all of our minds, the goal of the Community Outreach Committee was to help welcome, through emotional, financial and physical support, displaced families into the Tulsa community.  The committee selected two families and provided them with warm clothing, cleaning supplies, a computer, furniture and a gift certificate for other needed household items as well as an ear to listen when needed.  Although still undecided as to whether or not Tulsa will remain their permanent home, both families have expressed their gratitude and amazement at all of the help from ALA Tulsa and support from the entire Tulsa community.

ALA Tulsa received a letter and certificate for its participation in ALA’s 7th Annual Community Challenge Weekend - October 2005.

Anderson is considered a “low-performing” school in the state because more than 30 percent of its students have scored below satisfactory levels in reading, English and math in the past years. However, in September of 2004, the Oklahoma State Department of Education released its Academic Performance Index scores stating that Anderson was one of the two schools showing “the greatest improvements among elementary schools. The API score for Anderson is 1,016, compared to 360 last year.”