The Public Interest Law Foundation broke records this year during its annual Fall Day of Service. With more than seventy law student volunteers participating, PILF dedicated the weekend of November 9 and 10 to giving back at Friday Cafe, Father Bill’s, the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club, Pine Manor College, and Cradles to Crayons.
Each local organization serves underprivileged youth and adults in the Greater Boston Area, providing necessities from housing and meals to clothes and toys and everything in between.
Nicholas Holt ’21 was among a group of five BC Law students who worked at Cradles to Crayons, which he described as a “well-oiled machine of giving.” In its large warehouse in Brighton, shelves ten feet high were piled with clothes, backpacks, and other essentials for children.
Within ten minutes of their arrival, the BC Law students were joined by another thirty or so volunteers and together they sorted clothes, toys, and books into care packages for local kids.
Each package was labeled with the name of the child who would receive it, a touch that “grounded our service in reality,” Holt said. “Imagining the lives of Noah, John, Leah, and others, we all became stylists trying to pick the best outfits to make these kids’ lives just a little bit better. The time flew by with everyone in the warehouse smiling and laughing and fawning over the adorable sweater vests, onesies, and other tiny little outfits being pulled from the shelves and added to the hundreds of care packages we made.” By the end of their two-hour shift, the volunteers had created more than 300 care packages.
“The Fall Day of Service was a great opportunity for law students to engage and contribute to a community that has become their home during law school and often beyond,” said Lauren Koster ’19, president of PILF.
Further, it continues to build the network of students interested in public service as PILF gears up for its 31st Annual Auction on March 21, 2019. After several years off-site, the auction is returning to campus for the spring event to celebrate and deepen the community’s public interest spirit. It will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Yellow Room/Snack Bar.
The auction raises money to provide summer stipends for BC Law students in unpaid, public sector internships. Last year PILF raised nearly $22,000 at the auction. If the record-setting number of volunteers at the Fall Day of Service is any indication, this year’s auction could be the most successful yet, Koster said.
In support of PILF’s mission to enable BC Law students to pursue unpaid public interest work, donations may be made at bc.edu/lawpilf by selecting “Law Public Interest Fund” from the drop-down box. A donation of $2,000 funds one student for the summer, but all amounts are welcome.
Photo, from left: Yani Ngo, Alyssa Rao, Nicholas Holt, Andrian Lee, and William Salter