DATE: Thursday, July 10, 1997               TAG: 9707080167

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: THUMBS UP! 

SOURCE: BY KATHRYN DARLING, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

DEVOTED TO AIDS AGENCY EX-ATTORNEY AND STAY-AT-HOME MOM NURSED TASKFORCE BACK TO HEALTH.

When Robert Scott died in 1988, he left more than a will, a business and a family - he left a legacy.

In the mid-1980s, Scott and a group of friends raised money to help people they knew who had a new, incurable disease - AIDS.

What began as goodwill among friends has become the Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, which offers volunteer services to AIDS patients, finds funds to help pay for medication and medical care and works to educate the community. It also runs a street outreach program to help prevent the disease among the homeless, drug users and prostitutes.

Six years ago, the agency almost closed after a director, who allegedly had mismanaged funds, fled the state.

Scott's daughter, Alicia Devine, a former attorney and a stay-at-home mom, offered to do whatever she could to help out in the office, she said.

She was asked to fill in as director until the crisis was over.

``I had never run an agency before and wasn't particularly interested in managing people.'' But, she told herself, ``I can't let this organization close its doors because of this,'' and she agreed to take the job.

Though it was a paid position, Devine volunteered her time, and for six months she worked through the financial, organizational and morale problems that almost closed the agency's doors.

Even after a new director had been hired and was established, Devine continued working for the organization, serving on the board of directors for almost five years. Two of those years, she was president and one year, vice president.

Dr. Alan Wilson, a former president of the board of trustees of TACT and an assistant professor of Family Practice in the Division of Infectious Diseases at EVMS, praised Devine's work for TACT.

``Her strength, her humor, organizational skills, and ability to deal with people in crises,'' he said, helped ease the organization back into wholeness. ``She had the passion and the legacy.''

This month, Devine resigned her position on the board. She has returned to school part time and needs to devote more time to her family and her studies, she said.

But she won't miss out on the inner workings of TACT. She intends to continue recruiting board members and helping to raise funds.

Devine has another connection to the taskforce that will keep her informed. Her husband, William Devine, an attorney at Hofheimer, Nusbaum, McPauls and Samuels, serves as the legal adviser for TACT and as recording secretary for its board of directors.

Jim Spivey, TACT director, said William Devine ``is always available and quick to respond'' when a legal matter pops up during the week.

The rules, regulations and accountability to the government are different in the nonprofit arena, Spivey said.

Devine gives advice about contracts and personnel issues and ``keeps us from violating labor laws and avoiding conflicts of interests,'' said Spivey. And ``he puts it in terms we can understand.''

Last month, the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Association honored the Devines for their work with TACT. William, a member of the association, was given this year's Walter E. Hoffman Community Service Award for his work with the agency over the past seven years.

Alicia Devine also was recognized for her work on the board and as interim director.

Alicia should have gotten the award, said William Devine.

``I got involved because the agency meant so much to my wife and her family. . . . She's given so much more of herself.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JIM WALKER

William Devine, legal adviser, and Alicia Devine, former interim

director, have been recognized for sharing their skills with TACT.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu