WHEELING – Husband and wife attorneys Jim and Linda Bordas recently were honored with the Dr. Lee Jones Patron of Youth award during the YMCA’s annual Light of the Valley fundraiser luncheon. The couple’s commitment to serving the community was a driving factor behind the honor.
“We do pretty much everything,” Jim Bordas told The West Virginia Record.
Jim Bordas said the couple’s community service includes work at soup kitchens, Catholic charities, working with schools and, for him personally, coaching youth sports. He said the couple also gives numerous charitable contributions, and their community service also extends to the programs they do through their law firm, Bordas & Bordas.
“[Linda] does what I do in spades,” Jim Bordas said. “If something happens in the area, she works behind the scenes to help.”
Bordas said his wife’s community service also focuses on youth services and helping children and the poor.
In addition to personal service, Bordas said he and his wife do a lot of pro bono cases, relying, believing that the money made through their litigation cases allows them to do smaller legal jobs at no cost.
Bordas said it is important that he and Linda’s firm respond to client requests, even when it is apparent that the firm will not handle that client’s particular case. He said these clients reach out because they are looking for help and they want to be treated as human beings.
“We answer calls,” Jim Bordas said.
Although grateful for the honor and humbled by the “impressive” list of names who have received the award in the past, Jim Bordas said there are so many people who should be recognized in the community.
“It’s nice to be picked. It’s nice to be included within that company,” Bordas said. “There are a lot of lights that I recognize,” including teachers, doctors and nurses.
Bordas is also proud that his wife was the first female recipient of the award, and that they were the first lawyers to be honored in the decade-long history of the honor.
Jim Bordas also attributes the couple’s commitment to community service to their Christian beliefs.
“We wear that on our sleeves,” Jim Bordas said.
The YMCA Light of the Valley luncheon, at which Jim and Linda Bordas were honored, raised $70,150 for the organization. That money will be used to continue YMCA programs for children and families.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch spoke at the luncheon about the importance of encouraging children to participate in sports and other activities. Batch began youth basketball programs in Pittsburgh geared toward the city’s at-risk youth.
