MISSION CENTERED Roberts & Stevens’ Attorneys Assist Area Nonprofits Roberts & Stevens attorney Kate Madison helps Sherika, a nurse and mother of two, sign the closing documents on her West Asheville home in June 2020. After spending much of her life in public housing, Sherika worked her way through school and through Asheville Habitat’s Homeownership Program to buy an affordable home for herself and her girls.
Kate Madison
John Noor
Susan Russo Klein
Carolyn Snipes
Kate, John, Susan and Carolyn are among the attorneys at Roberts & Stevens Attorneys at Law who work with area nonprofits. Roberts & Stevens is a 20-21 Wortham Center corporate sponsor.
W
ith more than 4,500 nonprofits across the Western North Carolina region, it’s safe to assume this sector makes a big impact on our local community. In fact, according to the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, these organizations funnel more than $42 billion into the state’s economy each year, collectively paying North Carolinians more than $15 billion in annual wages.
does the firm support nonprofits financially — sponsoring community events and fundraisers for a variety of causes — it also provides critical legal work and guidance to many charitable organizations across the region. Attorney John Noor, for example, helped guide an organization through zoning ordinances in order to build affordable housing units. With another nonprofit, he helped stop illegal timbering in the mountains — and, in yet another, he fought to keep a local needle exchange program running.
And nonprofits, much like the Wortham Center, would be lost without the generous support of their patrons — from individuals to foundations, government agencies to corporate sponsors. But not all support starts with a checkbook.
“If the exchange had shut down, people would have died,” Noor explained. Drug abuse in Asheville is a serious and actionable issue and “the lack of clean injection supplies would have increased the spread of communicable diseases
Asheville law firm Roberts & Stevens has long been a shining example of the symbiotic relationship between businesses and nonprofits. Not only 24
