Maria Henderson: "The Foundation is the single thing we care about the most."

They met at a water station while training in Jacksonville, Fla., for the New York City Marathon. He was an attorney for local businesses and she was in the insurance business in Tampa.

Among the many things they soon discovered they had in common was a dedication to community service. Today, after ten years of marriage, Maria Henderson and First District Court of Appeals Judge William A. Van Nortwick, Jr. practice that dedication largely through The Florida Bar Foundation.

"The Foundation is the single thing we care about the most," said Henderson, the Foundation's first vice president for 2010-11.

Both are firm believers in the Foundation's mission of access to justice. But beyond that, they are believers in the Foundation itself.

"First, I think the people who work at the Foundation are some of the most incredibly dedicated people I have ever met," Henderson said. "I mean they believe in the mission, they live and breathe it. They articulate it well. And obviously they spend very little money on operations and fundraising, so the bulk of the money can go to the grantees."

Besides being Foundation Fellows, Van Nortwick and Henderson continue to give generously and have even put the Foundation in their wills. Both are members of the Legacy for Justice, which recognizes those who have either included the Foundation in their estate planning, made a pledge or gift of more than $10,000, directed a significant cy pres award to the Foundation, or facilitated a colleague’s major gift.

Van Nortwick sees their contributions as a way of dwelling in possibility.

“It’d be great to solve the poverty problem, but I’m not sure that’s something I can contribute to solving,” he said. “I can contribute to try and see that as many people can have legal representation as possible.”