Samantha Baughman, our rockstar paralegal, serves as Statewide Representative of the Paralegal Association of Central Ohio (PACO). This past February, she collaborated with three other paralegal associations across Ohio to organize drives to help local food banks. She’s previously hosted several food drives for pets as part of her work with local animal shelters and wanted to coordinate one to help people.
The seed for the food drive was planted last October when she went to the National Federation of Paralegal Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., as an Ohio delegate.
PACO held its first food drive in 2023 and wanted to do it again in 2024, so Samantha decided to jump in and get the ball rolling. While at the conference, she called the Mid-Ohio Food Collective to discuss setting up a food drive on their behalf. She then contacted three other paralegal organizations in Ohio and held Zoom meetings to organize food drives across the state. Samantha organized the local food drive on behalf of PACO, which supported the Mid-Ohio Food Collective by partnering with local law firms and legal vendors to gather both food items and monetary contributions.
The food drive generated 700 pounds of non-perishable food and $97.75 in donations. The Mid-Ohio Food Collective can distribute up to $4.56 in groceries for every $1 collected and serves 20 counties across central Ohio. You can learn more about them at https://mofc.org/.
An Ohio native, Samantha was a member of the Tucson Paralegal Association while her husband was stationed in Arizona with the United States Air Force. When they returned to Ohio, she looked for a local paralegal association to continue her professional development and joined PACO. After a few years, she was approached by several leaders of the organization who suggested she apply to become the Statewide/Secondary Representative on behalf of the organization. She did so and was granted the position, beginning her term July 1, 2023.
PACO is dedicated to helping paralegals advance their careers professionally, including by offering free continuing legal education (CLE) programs for members and hosting networking events. Samantha’s favorite thing about PACO is the opportunity to go to free CLE presentations, including ones about workers’ compensation. You may learn more about PACO at https://pacoparalegals.org/.
We are proud of Samantha’s commitment to our clients at Monast Law Office and to our surrounding community and just wanted you to know!
