Cunningham Dalman paralegal receives lifetime achievement award for Victim Services Unit work
HOLLAND, Mich. (October 20, 2014) – Yvette Mendoza of Holland, a paralegal at Cunningham Dalman, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her years of volunteer service to the Holland Public Safety Victim Services Unit. The honor was bestowed on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Michigan Sheriff’s Association fall banquet in Battle Creek.
“Ms. Mendoza’s contributions to the advancement of advocate training in this state, and the impact of her service to victims and their families in Holland, are immeasurable,” said MSA Executive Director Terrence L. Jungel.
Mendoza joined Holland’s Victim Services Unit in 1996, the year it was created, and today serves as program coordinator.
“I joined Victim Services because of my own personal loss when my two youngest children died,” Mendoza said. She received support through the medical examiner’s office, and “when Holland started the Victim Services Unit, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
Holland Public Safety Chief Matt Messer attended the award presentation Sunday.
The Victim Services Unit is an organization of 16 volunteers dedicated to providing initial support needed by victims of crisis or crime.
In 2011, the Michigan Sheriff’s Association named Holland’s Victim Services Unit the best in the state. Holland’s VSU is one of two in Michigan run by cities; the other city unit is in Lansing, and the other 48 are operated by counties throughout the state.
Mendoza has worked since 1991at Cunningham Dalman, a full-service law firm with offices in Holland. Ron Vander Veen, one of the firm’s partners, serves as Holland City Attorney; Mendoza serves as the firm’s ordinance prosecution paralegal for the Holland City Attorney’s Office.
