Ben Zeltner, a resident of Linwood and a partner with Levine Staller recently served as a leader for a group of 20 students from The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, who traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist in the ongoing rebuilding efforts since the region was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The group spent a week working on homes substantially damaged in the storms, from gutting houses in preparation for future work to installing insulation and drywall and a variety of construction-related projects for homes already on the mend.
Zeltner participated for several reasons, the most obvious being the desire to work alongside his son Eric, 15, who is a student at Pennington and was a member of the work delegation. But even more importantly, Zeltner felt a personal desire to give back to a community where he lived for several years.
“Having earned my law degree from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, I feel a great kinship to the area and consider it to be another home of sorts to me,” said Zeltner. “It was important to me to do what I could personally to help heal the region and to set an example of the principles of charity and good citizenship to my son.”
Atlantic City-based Levine Staller was formed in 1978 principally as a tax and transactional firm concentrating in the areas of federal and state taxation, estate planning and commercial and real estate transactions. The firm has since diversified with the addition of attorneys practicing in other areas including complex commercial litigation, real estate tax appeals, land use planning and development, construction law, casino gaming, employee benefits and personal injury.