For over two decades, Amy Witherite, a seasoned personal injury lawyer, has worked to help disenfranchised communities injured in traffic accidents. Her firm, Witherite Law Group, has also been very intentional in working with communities in Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth helping youth and families in various capacities.
In addition to being a lawyer, Witherite is a philanthropist who believes in supporting the communities that she serves.
In recognition of National Stress Awareness Day, which is Nov. 2, Witherite Law Group donated $42,000 to Girls Incorporated of Greater Atlanta (GIGA) to fund mental health programs for youth in metro Atlanta.
The Wellness program kicked off on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, at Global Impact Academy. The event featured mental health, stress awareness and emotional wellness workshops for 150 boys and girls, providing them resources for stress reduction, bullying and other stressors that teens face every day.
How did you get involved with Girls Inc. and with their mental health awareness program?
It’s twofold. Our home office is in Dallas. So I started with Girls Inc. in Dallas, and I had some opportunities to really help these young ladies in the after-school program. And I was just so impressed by what Beth Meyers was doing in Dallas. When I came to Atlanta, Girls Inc. was another partner we wanted to explore and see if we [could] help the young ladies here. And I’ve been extremely impressed with the programs that Tiffany [Collie-Bailey], has put together here at Girls Inc. Atlanta.
Why does the Witherite Law Group get personally involved with Girls Inc.?
Well, it is super important for me to be present, we don’t like to just write a check and not really know what happens. It’s critical that we are consistently present in the neighborhood. If we’re doing something with girls in Atlanta, we want to have a long-term plan with girls in Atlanta, because what happens too often is people come in, they’ll hit them with a little bit of money, and then they don’t come back or they’re not consistent.
What made you want to work in marginalized communities?
Well, so many folks that we serve as lawyers are from communities that are somewhat marginalized or overlooked. And I just felt if we were going to be in the community representing families, one case at a time, we could do so much more if we invested in the people who actually live there. So we started with education in schools, whether it’s making sure kids have food at the end of the day, because that might be their last meal of the day, we wanted to start to lift everybody up.
