I’m proud to know her
Beth Wilkins is receiving the National Federation of Paralegal Associations Pro Bono Award this weekend.
The Denver resident was nominated for the award because of her extensive volunteer work with the Wills on Wheels program. Every year she devotes many hours of her own time to assist senior citizens and others who cannot afford legal services.
“Beth is a generous and committed paralegal who provides a valuable service to the low-income elderly population in the metro area,” wrote Karen Lundgrin, Benson & Case. “I am very proud of her devotion and commitment to Wills on Wheels.”
After graduating from Union College in Lincoln, Neb., Beth Wilkins worked for a decade as an educator in a challenging Detroit-area school before returning to Colorado where she embarked on a second career in the legal profession. She graduated from the Denver Paralegal Institute in 1992.
She had initially moved to Colorado in 1974 and graduated from Moffat County High School in Craig, Colo., in 1976.
She is married to Kevin Wilkins, a professional graphic artist in the Denver area.
Beth Wilkins worked for the Denver law firm of Benson & Case, LLP, until 2008 when she began working for a larger Denver legal firm, The Harris Law Firm, P.C. Her primary professional emphasis has been family law.
However, on her own time she has devoted hundreds of hours over the years to assisting low-income senior citizens and others through Wills on Wheels, a pro bono paralegal/attorney committee of the Rocky Mountain Paralegal Association.
She heard a presentation about Wills on Wheels while completing her paralegal coursework and immediately became involved with the group in 1992. She has served as co-chair and chairman of the committee.
“I have always been interested in the elderly and taught a unit on old age to my freshmen and sophomore English students during my junior academy teaching career 1980-1990 in Michigan,” Beth Wilkins wrote. She said when she heard about Wills on Wheels, she was hooked.
She has received the Rocky Mountain Paralegal Association Pro Bono Paralegal of the Year award because of her work with this worthy cause and is now receiving the national Pro Bono Award at the NFPA Annual Convention this weekend in Portland, Ore. She will receive a plaque and $1,000 donation to the pro bono project of her choice.
Through Wills on Wheels, Beth Wilkins has visited many homebound seniors whose incomes were at the federal poverty level and would not have been able to afford estate planning (wills and medical directives) assistance otherwise. Traveling well beyond the Denver metro area, she has logged literally hundreds of miles at her own expense to visit the elderly in nursing care facilities and low-income apartment complexes. She has also presented educational programs in many senior facilities.
In addition, Beth Wilkins has continued her own education in the paralegal field.
In addition to her professional and voluntary service as a paralegal, she has served on the board of the Far Northeast Neighbors Inc., a non-profit organization, representing the communities of Montbello, Parkfield, Gateway, Singletree, Green Valley Ranch, and Denver International Airport in Denver, coordinated a prayer ministry in her church and been involved in various collector clubs.
She is the daughter of Pastor Don and Teresa Sales of Pueblo.
And she is my sister.
