Prince William lawyers lend a hand to Project Mend-A-House

A group of local attorneys recently donned hard hats and tool belts for renovation work at a local Habitat for Humanity of Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park house.

The house needed an estimated $20,000 worth of work, including roof repairs, drywall, landscaping, gutter repair and wallpaper. The lawyers rolled up their sleeves and went to work to repair the dwelling.

The lawyers were from Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian, a Manassas-based firm, who have worked with Habitat for nearly 15 years, providing them pro bono counsel on land zoning and land acquisition equaling thousands of hours of donated services.

Vanderpool, president of the firm, has been part of the county both personally and professionally for more than 30 years and is passionate about giving back to the community, as well as supporting residential and business revitali-zation efforts throughout Prince William and Manassas.

"Our attorneys were excited to be part of this renovation project in a very hands-on way," said Vander-pool. "Generally, we provide our volunteer service to Habitat on a counsel basis where we aren't di-rectly part of the end product, but seeing the results of hours of work was a very positive and gratifying experi-ence."

Founded in 1986,  award-winning Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian has grown to be the largest law firm in the county, serving clients throughout the United States and internationally. They are recipients of the City of Manassas Small Business Award, City of Manassas Loy E. Harris award for outstanding contributions to the community among other citations.

Almost 95 percent of the local Habitat's projects are committee to renovation for families in need.

Nationwide, Habitat builds or renovates and sells homes at no profit to low-income families.

For more information call 703-369-6708 or visit http://www.habitatpwc.org.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.