Naperville Injury Lawyers Giving Back
Marker & Crannell is a true Naperville injury law firm. Jason Marker and Jon Crannell have long and deep roots in the community they now serve. They both grew up in Naperville. They both went to high school in Naperville (Jason NCHS and Jon NNHS). When they were done with law school and ready to build a family, they both moved back to Naperville.
As the firm has grown, so has our appreciation for the community we grew up in and now serve. Since 2018 we have made an annual gift to charities we believe are especially deserving. When selecting the charitable organization to donate to, we consider if they are:
- Connected to a case or a client
- Connected to causes important to the firm
- Locally based or serve the needs of our neighbors
- Financially responsible with most of the donation money going to the cause
- Highly rated by CharityNavigator.org
2023 – Little League Baseball
Marker & Crannell sponsored a local little league baseball team.
2023 – Huntington Swim Team
Marker & Crannell sponsored a local swim team.
2023 – Prairie Elementary Home & School
Marker & Crannell sponsored the Prairie Elementary School adult social fundraiser and auction to support our local school.
2022 – Little League Baseball
Marker & Crannell sponsored a local little league baseball team.
2022 – Huntington Swim Team
Marker & Crannell sponsored a local swim team.
2022 – Prairie Elementary Home & School
Marker & Crannell sponsored the Prairie Elementary School scavenger hunt and auction to support our local school.
2021 – Swifty Foundation
We couldn’t resist contributing to such a good cause again. By sponsoring the Swifty Foundation website, we helped free up money to be used toward their cause.
2020 – Swifty Foundation
Jason Marker and Jon Crannell kept hearing about this Swifty Foundation fundraiser at their kids’ schools and had to know more about it. As the year came to a close, their research revealed that this organization was started by a 15-year-old boy just before he lost his battle with brain cancer. The family carries on the torch lit by “Mikey” Gustafson with this amazing organization dedicated to funding research and treatments for pediatric cancer. Swifty Foundation is as local as it gets and couldn’t be more deserving of charitable donations.
2020 – Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
In early 2020, Marker & Crannell represented someone who had been severely injured while in a nursing home facility. It was particularly tragic because his fractured femur was extremely painful and required painful surgery to repair and due to his Parkinson’s associated dementia, pain killers were not a good option. This is a retired FBI agent whose service to our country is nothing short of heroic – he was strong, bold, patient, incredibly kind, and thoughtful. Our client had “good days” and “bad days,” but what he had all the while was the most amazing family we have ever seen.
Our client had been divorced with two adult sons when we first met him. Imagine our surprise when I find out that his ex-wife and her boyfriend were visiting him in the nursing home. The world we live in led us to investigate why an ex-wife and her boyfriend would be visiting our client fearing something shady was going on. It turns out that the ex-wife and her boyfriend both loved and cared for our client and would routinely call and check in with him and bring him things he needed while in the nursing home. The sons were obvious products of two parents who could teach the world a thing or two about love. The sons are strong, confident, and unflinching like their dad and the amount of love they have for him was palpable at every turn in our case. To know this family is to love them…and be loved by them.
In November of 2020, our client lost his battle with Parkinson’s. Having been touched by our client’s story and his amazing family, we sought out the best-rated Parkinson’s-related charity we could find…and it is one we all have already heard of. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research is one of the best-rated, 4-star Parkinson’s foundations with 86.8% of donations going directly to the cause. Our donation was made in tribute to our client and in honor of his most amazing family.
2019 – Turning Pointe Autism Foundation
In 2019 our firm represented a woman who was injured while attending her son’s baseball game through a recreational sports organization for people with special needs. Her son has Autism. Our client brought her daughter to the settlement conference in Will County and it was clear how lucky he is to be a part of that family.
One of our close family members had been recently diagnosed with Autism so this cause was very close to our hearts. We didn’t have to search long before we found an incredible organization in our own backyard – Turning Pointe Autism Foundation on Ogden Avenue in the old Naperville Sun building. This organization is rated 4-stars by CharityNavigator.org.
Upon hearing that we would be making the donation, Barb Brauer, Development and Operations Director, reached out to see if we would like a tour. Needless to say, our hearts were touched by the incredible work this foundation is doing. Turning Pointe Autism Foundation teaches school-aged children, young adults, and adults with Autism. With a sprawling facility and a wonderful staff, they are doing great things for our community. One of the most amazing parts of the tour was the Walgreens partnership area that had been set up to mimic a Walgreens store. It had shelves with real products, a cash register that is connected to Walgreens’ database, and it came with Walgreens’ promise to help train and hire workers that graduate from the program.
2018 – Warrior Canine Connection
Jon Crannell was sitting in a mediation with his client and the mediator was out of the room for over an hour. Jon and his client started talking. His client, a combat veteran, started telling Jon not so much about what serving overseas was like, but more about what it was like coming home. He struggled with depression and wasn’t sure how much longer he wanted to stick around. When things started getting bad, his wife got him a rescue puppy and that pup was the beginning to a healing process that would take years. If it wasn’t for that dog, Jon would never have had the chance to meet such a wonderful hero of a client nor would he have had the honor of representing such a deserving person.
Inspired by his client’s story, Jon Crannell and Jason Marker searched for a way to help someone else the way our client’s dog helped him. We found Warrior Canine Connection, a 4-star charitable organization as rated by CharityNavigator.org. This organization trains service dogs to help wounded veterans when they come home.