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Community Service at Vanderbilt Law School

Below you will find information about Vanderbilt Law Students' recent community engagement and volunteer efforts. To the left you will find information about ongoing and annual service opportunities.

Also on this page:
Read Me Week at a local elementary school
Lunch with the Ronald McDonald House

Fundraising and Donation Collection for the Haiti Relief Effort

• Near the beginning of the Spring 2010 term, Professors Tracey George and Mike Vandenbergh challenged their respective 1L sections to donate money to AmeriCares (which is lead by VULS alumnus Curtis Welling (’74)) and the American Red Cross to assist with disaster relief in Haiti. The professors made a matching challenge – and the students not only met the matching amount but exceeded it!   The combined donations totaled more than $5000.
   
• Law School Student Organizations the Black Law Students Association and the Law Students for Veterans Association held a table on main street where items such as water, non-perishable food, blankets, toiletries, and clothes could be donated and sent to Haiti with an aid organization.
   
• "The Vanderbilt Graduate Schools Unite for Haiti" fundraising event on January 30, 2010 raised $7,258 which was donated to CODEP and the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund. The Law School's Vanderbilt Bar Association spearheaded law student participation, but many students got involved. The band that played included three law students: Drew Dorner, Mike Von Klemperer, and Ben Halperin.

 Read Me Week

Thirty-five students read to Charlotte Park Elementary School students as part of "Read Me Week," an annual event sponsored by  Book 'em + Reading is Fundamental, a Nashville children's literacy organization. Read-Me Week brings community members into Nashville public schools to share their love of reading with students.

Volunteers read a favorite children's book to their assigned class. Afterwards, they donated the book to the teacher for the class to enjoy again. Student readers wore "readable clothing" --anything with words on it including Vandy law t-shirts, band t-shirts, sports t-shirts and so on -- so they could introduce themselves and ask the students to read their shirts and learn a little bit about them. Professor George, for example, wore a Vancouver Olympics shirt, prompting much discussion about the children's favorite winter sports and their experiences sledding during Nashville's recent, and unusual, snowfall. All of the students and teachers -- from Vandy Law and Charlotte Park -- has a lot of fun.

Thanks to Alexandra Deane and Alina Lee for organizing the reading effort!

Lunch for the Nashville Ronald McDonald House

On Saturday, February 27, Section B students served Jambalaya on rice with garlic bread at the Nashville Ronald McDonald House which provides a home away from home for the families of critically ill children receiving treatment at Nashville area hospitals (including Vanderbilt Children's Hospital). Non-law-student partners who had traveled to Nashville for the Barrister's Ball generously joined them, supporting their pro bono publico project.

Many thanks to the student organizers -- Geraldine Young, Kim Lockhart, Tonya Ogden, and Funto Phillips -- and to their colleagues who volunteered -- Eli Atkinson, Noah Coakley, Lauren Gregory, Megan LaDriere, Samara Meyers, Nadia Mozaffar, Michael Schlepp, Karla Turner, Nick Warnick (great recipe!), and Rachel Weisshaar.