The power of one.

• Author: Downs, Mayanne
• Position: President's Page

My law partner, Bruce Blackwell, turned evangelist at an Orange County Bar Association meeting, giving the altar call with his personal pro bono story.

When Bruce agreed to take a landlord-tenant case for Legal Aid, little did he know he would end up freeing a 17-year-old girl from the grip of poverty and responsibilities beyond her years, and send her soaring to unimaginable opportunities.

Today, Sabrina Wiggins is a 32-year-old veterinarian and considers Bruce her father figure. He still gets choked up telling how Sabrina recently sent him a Father's Day card thanking him. And there were more than a few misty eyes at the bar meeting that day.

"We were not going to leave until we brought a few sheaves down," said Bruce, a former president of The Florida Bar Foundation.

Answering the call that day, Orange County lawyers--who already fulfill their mandatory obligation as members of the Orange County Bar Association to take two cases or pay an in-lieu-of-service fee of $350 each year--broke a record by agreeing to take 64 cases that will change the lives of more than 85 people. Orange County's "One ... more" campaign is part of the state's "One Campaign" launched a year ago.

"The need is so great. And we lawyers have the ability to really make a significant difference in someone's life. It's hard to change a society, but you can affect change--one person at a time," said Bruce, sharing the details of his unforgettable pro bono case.

Sabrina's family had been living without water for three weeks. Even though they had paid rent, the landlord was trying to pry them out of the apartment to develop the land into fancy shops. Bruce helped move the family to another apartment, where Sabrina's mom still lives.

"I met this 17-year-old girl, who was a senior at Winter Park High. I recognized from almost the outset that Sabrina was extraordinary, not withstanding her family's economic circumstances and issues with some of her brothers in the juvenile justice system."

While her mother worked, Sabrina came home from school to take charge of her three younger brothers, helping them with their homework, trying to keep them out of trouble, as well as cooking and cleaning. Sabrina never knew her father.

"I went home that night and asked my daughter whether she knew this girl," Bruce recalled. "And Brooke said, 'Sure, Dad, everybody knows Sabrina. She's wonderful.'"

Bruce floated the idea of inviting Sabrina to live with them, so she could have a more normal...