Ken Burgess, a 1984 Campbell Law alumni and Poyner& Spruill partner, has been selected by the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation as a 2007 National Volunteer of the Year for his work in Nicaragua.

The award is based on Burgess’ efforts to raise money for the renovation and expansion of a shelter for homeless seniors in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. The facility will be both a home for its residents and a center of health care for the entire community.

The center is the first of its kind in Nicaragua, and one of the few in Central America, but it’s likely to become a model for similar programs in that part of the world, according to Burgess.  In addition to renovating and expanding the center itself, the money raised by Burgess and Poyner& Spruill is helping with a number of related projects designed to ensure the center’s long-term financial stability, bring medical care to the residents, and help train some of the 500,000 abandoned street children of Nicaragua in services they can provide to seniors at the center or elsewhere, helping them learn trades that also keep them off the streets and away from lives of sexual abuse, drug addiction and poverty.

“Few things I’ve ever done have given me such a sense of satisfaction as this project,” said Burgess.“The generosity of my firm, my family, and my professional colleagues in different parts of the country have moved me beyond words.”

Burgess is a long-term care attorney advising clients on a wide variety of legal planning issues arising in the skilled nursing facility setting, assisted living setting, and other spheres of long-term care. He is a frequent national lecturer and author of industry manuals, national trade journal magazine articles and similar training tools. He serves Poyner& Spruill clients by focusing on legal issues impacting the long-term care and health services sector.

About the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation: Located in Clackamas, Ore.,the foundation supports projects in the U.S. and around the world designed to promote health care and related services to seniors. 

About Poyner& Spruill: Poyner& Spruill LLP is a large, multidisciplinary North Carolina law firm, providing a comprehensive range of business and litigation legal services.  The firm has a reputation for professional excellence and client service throughout the Southeast. Poyner& Spruill, one of the largest firms in North Carolina, has over 110 attorneys with offices in Charlotte, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, and Southern Pines. For more information, visit www.poynerspruill.com.

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