Hope Brunch

Brunch Archives: 2024 | 2023 | 2022

Providing Life-Saving Services, Empowering Survivors, Educating Our Community, Demanding Change

On Sunday, April 6th, we will celebrate and honor incredible individuals from the Hudson Valley for their commitment to our work. We humbly acknowledge the impact of our donors and sponsors in advancing the mission of FEARLESS! and thank them for supporting the work we do every day.

Angela Accomando is a professionally trained chef, the CEO of Golden Meals, and a powerful advocate for domestic violence survivors. Her personal journey, beginning with refuge in a Rockland County shelter as a child, and continuing through her own experience in an abusive marriage, has driven her commitment to social justice. She partnered with NYS lawmakers to change a critical law regarding domestic violence reporting. Angela seamlessly merges her passion for nourishing people with a commitment to social justice, partnering with organizations feeding community members who have chronic health conditions or struggle with food insecurity with prepared meals and fighting for the rights of survivors.

Christine Fitzgerald joined the Fearless! team in the fall of 2001, when she was asked to become a member of the board of directors. Based on her professional experience at the Cornwall Hospital Foundation and other nonprofit organizations, she initially served as the chair of the fundraising committee, where she focused her energy on special events and networking for the agency. Over the past two decades, Christine has volunteered on several other committees, and she and her husband, Brian, have assisted with many Fearless! events and initiatives. In 2014 Christine was elected Vice Chair and in 2016 was elected as Board Chair of the Fearless! board. It has been her honor to work with the agency’s gifted, visionary team of staff and board members through the many successes and unexpected challenges of the past several years. She looks forward to contributing to the agency’s continued growth for years to come.

Juliana LoBiondo, is a partner in the law firm of LoBiondo Law Offices, located in the Town of Newburgh, along with her husband, Attorney Anthony LoBiondo. Anthony is also a Town Councilman in the Town of Newburgh. Juliana has dedicated her law practice to Divorce, Family Law and Family Mediation for the past 34 years. She received her B.A. from NYU in 1987 and her Juris Doctorate from Fordham Law School in 1990. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1991 and the Federal Bar (SDNY) in 1992. Juliana began her career as a Trial Attorney with the Nassau County Legal Aid Society, where she represented indigent persons who were accused of crimes, as well as persons involved in Family Court matters. Juliana is the former President of the Mid-Hudson Women's Bar Association (1997-1998) and former President-Elect of the Dutchess County Bar Association (2004-2005). She served on the Executive Board of the Dutchess County Bar Association for nine years and served on the Dutchess County Bar Association Grievance Committee for 10 years. Juliana is bilingual in English and Spanish. Although not a native speaker, she studied for one year at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain, minored in Spanish and NYU, and speaks to clients in Spanish on a daily basis. The staff of LoBiondo Law are bilingual. 

The LoBiondo’s are the founders of, and Juliana is the treasurer of, America Rows and Swims Newburgh, a not-for-profit organization which provided free learn to swim, learn to row programs and free summer camp tuition for children in need in the City of Newburgh. Juliana spent many years as the volunteer Director of Development for both America Rows and Swims Newburgh and the Newburgh Rowing club. She dedicated many years to providing tutoring, mentoring, and scholarships to children in under-served neighborhoods, as well as serving as an unofficial “Uber driver” for the girls rowing team. In June 2014, Juliana received a “Thumbs Up Award” from Kids 4 Causes for her work with children. 

She is a longtime supporter of children’s rights, as a mother, grandmother, and as an attorney. She served on the Law Guardian Panel in Dutchess County for many years, where she represented children in Family Court matters. Mrs. Lo is one of the few local attorneys listed with the United States State Department as qualified to handle Hague Convention cases and has been recognized by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington DC for her pro bono work representing parents and children who have been the victims of international parental kidnapping. In 2016, Juliana received the “Golden Oars Award” from US Rowing, a national organization, for her work in bringing the sport of rowing to under-served communities. Juliana organizes Free Legal Clinics in the Newburgh area at least twice per year, bringing in other local attorneys to provide free legal services for the day on a drop-in basis. Juliana believes strongly in providing back to the community in the form of pro bono services and received the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year award several times in the past from the Dutchess County Bar Association. Juliana has also volunteered to provide pro bono services through Legal Services of Westchester and the Hudson Valley, representing indigent litigants in divorce cases, for over twenty (20) years. 

Juliana is also actively involved in not for profits in the community, and serves on the fundraising committees for the following, which LoBiondo Law has also sponsored: Fearless! HV (advocacy, services and shelter for victims of intimate partner violence); Nora Cronin Presentation Academy (free and low-cost tuition for this private middle school for girls in Newburgh); Habitat for Humanity of Newburgh; Hospice of Orange and Sullivan; and RECAP of Orange County. LoBiondo Law Offices is located at 261 North Plank Road in the Town of Newburgh. Juliana and Anthony have been married for 26 years and are proud parents and grandparents. They have two sons, Christian and Michael LoBiondo. Christian is a 1st Lieutenant and a C-17 Pilot in the US Air Force (Texas), he is married to Ana Sophia Reino, and they have a daughter, Amelia Rosario. Michael LoBiondo is a junior at SUNY Binghamton, where he has been on the Dean’s List every semester he has attended. Michael plans to attend law school.