Day 45- September 23, 2010

Today we had a pretty full day in Montgomery.  I feel like I learned more today because it was information that was related to my job.

Here are some facts we learned today about Alabama.

There are 16,000 attorneys in Alabama, which means there is 1 attorney for every 300 residents.

My office covers 600 cases a year. We have 8 staff attorneys, so now the number has been increased to 800 cases a year that go to court, 100 cases per attorney.  The Mobile service area is 116,000 poor people (people living at or below the federal poverty line). Of that 116,000, 50% of poor people need legal assistance. At least 50,000 poor people in the Mobile service area need legal assistance. The ideal is for there to be 1 legal aid attorney for every 5,000 poor people. Our office has one staff person, that includes non-attorneys, for every 9,000 poor people that need legal assistance. That is almost double the ideal.  

The most shocking and disheartening statistic is that Alabama is ranked number 51 in the United States for money allocated per poor person for legal assistance. Puerto Rico, ranked 50, allocates $18 per person, Alabama only allocates $12.

We left Montgomery around 12:30 and got to the airport in plenty of time.

....

Oh my today ended up being a long day!!  Sister Mary Ellen drove us all from Montgomery. She was kind enough to drop me off at the airport.  When I went to check in and print my ticket, I was informed my flight was delayed. I knew I would cut it close even if my flights were all on time. I originally had a 50 minute layover in Atlanta. When I got to my gate I was told I'd miss my flight and my options were to stay in Mobile or take this flight to Atlanta, when ever it arrived and stay in a hotel there.  I don't want to stay in any hotels. I want to be in DC with Bridget. Option one, staying in Mobile, meant I will get to DC by 1:00pm tomorrow. That would be too late!  So option 2 it is, I'll get on this plane to Atlanta, when ever it shows up and run to my connection praying or stay in Atlanta for the night.

We ended up leaving with enough time, 15 minutes, that it may have been possible to make my connection.  Only problem was the flights were 3 terminals and 20 gates apart and I was in the last row on the plane.  I missed the flight to DC by minutes, but I was able to run back through the terminal, from gate 1 to gate 33 and make a flight to Dulles, it left 15 minutes later than the flight I had missed.  I am so happy I didn't have to stay in Atlanta and so grateful I have an amazing best friend who will rent a zip car and drive the extra 45 minutes to pick me up!