University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 5, No. 3/1996 Caring contributor to society As a wet-behind-the-ears judicial clerk in Alexandria, Va., nearly a decade ago, Kyle Elizabeth Skopic, Delaware '84, volunteered her free time to provide legal assistance to hospice patients. One of her first cases was a man dying of AIDS who needed help putting his affairs in order. As their conversation drifted from legal matters to life in general, a tragic story emerged of a bright law-school graduate who chose to suffer his disease without support from his family. He feared rejection during a time when AIDS bore more of a social stigma than it does today. Gradually, the young man grew too tired and weak to continue speaking. Soon after, he died. Another person might have ended volunteer work right then. After long days of court cases involving all types of unhappy circumstances, fleeing from more tragedy would have been understandable. But, it wouldn't have been Kyle Skopic. In her career as a lawyer, Skopic has been a tireless champion of the young, the needy and the dying. In addition to providing pro bono services to the Hospice of Northern Virginia, she chairs the Fairfax County Child Abuse Prevention Committee, and serves as a member of a task force studying delivery of legal services to the poor. She also gives presentations on legal issues to high school students, provides ski lessons for Teen Winter Sports and meets with prospective University of Delaware students through the Volunteer Admissions Support Team (VAST). "I was raised to be volunteer-oriented," she says. "The more I have to do, the more I'll get done." And, Skopic has always given herself plenty to do. While a consumer economics major at Delaware, she served as a resident assistant for three years and still found time to fulfill the requirements for a Degree with Distinction. She also studied economics at the University's London program, where she developed further her interest in programs for the terminally ill, by exposure to the well-known St. Christopher's Hospice there. For her honors thesis, Skopic examined Medicare eligibility requirements and developed a model that hospices can use to evaluate volunteer participation, allowing them to qualify for Medicare funding. Today, that model is used by hospices nationwide. With her knowledge of hospice, it was natural that she would become a volunteer after graduating from the University of Richmond's T.C. Williams School of Law. She remains active in hospice, assisting people by drafting wills, power-of-attorney documents and other legal papers. She also became a notary public so she could provide services to homebound persons, and, sometimes, she finds herself running small errands for the surviving partner-just because she cares. Skopic has observed that, oftentimes, people die shortly after meeting with her to set their final affairs in order. Through her services, she says, people in their final days are able to tie up loose ends and put their minds at peace. "The will to live is a powerful thing," she says. "When they come to the end, they're tired of fighting, but they need to get things in order and say good-bye. Many times, I'll visit someone and then find out the next day that they died." Skopic says she doesn't find that depressing. Rather, she takes comfort in her hospice work. "It helps me put my life and any problems I think I have in perspective," she says. "It makes you wonder if you are really making the most of your life and helps you comprehend it on a bigger scale." That aspect of her volunteer work was especially important during the years Skopic worked on child-welfare cases. As an assistant Fairfax County attorney, she represented social services agencies and encountered situations of child abuse and abandonment. And, she views that as a positive experience, as well. "I got a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that I was helping children," Skopic says. "It's with a heavy heart that you terminate parental rights and put a child up for adoption, but it's also rewarding to see the children placed into families with loving parents." Today, Skopic has turned her attention to tax-collection programs for the county, trying cases against tax cheats. "I see how badly the tax dollars are needed, and it makes me angry to see that some people are not paying when others are paying their fair share," she says. In all of her work-whether it's professional or volunteer-Skopic says she strives to fight for just causes and demonstrate to the community that lawyers are caring contributors to society. The rewards are many, she says. "When you give of your time as a volunteer, you get so much more in return," Skopic says. "I have seen so many loving, selfless acts that people have done for others. It instills a good feeling in you about humankind." -Marylee Sauder, Delaware '83