LIHS honors Wickey of Nassau Suffolk Law Services

Nassau Suffolk Law Services recently joined Long Island Housing Services (LIHS) in honoring Beth Wickey for her distinguished service on LIHS's Board of Directors for 22 years, five of those years serving as president. Wickey is the director of program and contract administration at Nassau Suffolk Law Services and also managed to dedicate much of her time to a mission that is close to her heart: fair housing and the elimination of unlawful housing discrimination. At the LIHS event held recently at Touro Law Center, which was chaired by Michelle Santantonio, executive director, Wickey was honored as the retiring president along with Harriet Spiegelman, LIHS's retiring projects facilitator. Distinguished speakers included Bernard Kleina, a civil right and fair housing advocate who is the director of HOPE Fair Housing Center in Illinois. As a professional photographer he generously displayed an exhibit of a moving and powerful collection, The Chicago Freedom Movement Exhibit. These color photographs were taken by Kleina in 1965 depicting the activities of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists in Chicago during more turbulent times. Prof. Okianer Christina Dark, associate professor for academic affairs at Howard University School of Law spoke passionately of her personal experience with housing discrimination. An audiovisual presentation featuring her story was presented during the luncheon that followed. Wickey accepted a plaque for her service and spoke emotionally of her early days growing up on Long Island in an integrated community. "My hope is that someday my childhood experience actually will be the norm on Long Island, and if that day ever comes, it will be largely due to the work of Long Island Housing Services." Nassau/Suffolk Law Services Committee, Inc or "Law Services" is a non-profit community-based poverty law program that provides legal assistance in civil (non-criminal) matters to low income persons throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Established in 1966, Law Services was one of the first Legal Services Corporation programs, and is now among the largest providers of civil legal services in New York State handling some 8,000 cases in 2009. The program is committed to helping the poor vindicate their rights under the law. It provides free legal services in thousands of cases each year, as well as legal support to every agency, religious group, and grass roots organization that works with the poor and persons with disabilities on Long Island. Jeffrey Seigel (Huntington Station, N.Y.) has been the Executive Director since 1999.