“Together WE Can Make a Difference”—WOMEN EVERYWHERE: PARTNERS IN SERVICE PROJECT

Women Everywhere: Partners in Service Project, Inc. (WE) will host its annual Educational Projects Day on Friday, April 15, 2011. WE is a volunteer collective aimed at soliciting and coordinating volunteer activities benefiting women and children in need, with a particular focus on education and community service. The Educational Projects Day invites junior and senior students from local high schools to tour trial or appellate courts in Chicago and to listen to the remarkable experiences of accomplished professional women. Several hundred students participate in the program every year by attending one of the court tours offered. Among the tour locations are the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, the Richard J. Daley Center and the Criminal Courts Building at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago. The goal of this annual event is to expose high school women to the importance of education along with the many rewarding career paths that may follow. In recognition of this year’s theme, “Women Pioneers,” the Educational Projects Day, with the help of numerous judges and volunteering attorneys, will focus on pioneering women from the fields of public service, law, sports and science.

WE’s Partners in Service Project is not complete until it holds its annual Agency Projects Day, this year on June 17, 2011. This volunteer event brings together several hundred individuals from the legal community to spend the day at dozens of agencies dedicated to the needs of women and children. The volunteers provide direct services such as painting, building, gardening, or cleaning, as well as legal services such as leading discussions with agency clients and presenting topical seminars.

To organize and coordinate these events, WE has an extensive planning committee comprised of volunteers from the legal community. Also, each year a coalition of bar group partners sponsor the Partners in Service Project. WE’s partners include the Illinois Judges Foundation, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago, Diversity Scholarship Foundation, Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women, Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, Illinois Judicial Council; Illinois State Bar Association Committee on Women and the Law, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association; John Marshall Law School Alumni Association; Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago; and Women’s Criminal Defense Bar Association. WE is grateful for the generosity and support of not only its bar group partners, but for the backing of numerous Chicago area law firms as well.

Anyone interested in helping WE make a difference in the lives of women and children in need, please consider volunteering on April 15, 2011 for our annual Educational Projects Day or on June 17, 2011 for our annual Agency Projects Day. To complete a volunteer form, go to <http://www.wechicago.org>, or send an e-mail to Martina Brendel at <martina.brendel@gmail.com> or Sarah Buck at <sbuck0427@gmail.com>. WE is also seeking to expand its network of bar associations. If your bar association would like to become a sponsor of our project, please contact Margaret Foster at <mfoster@mckenna-law.com>. For more information about these events or partnering with WE, please visit our website or contact Women Everywhere Planning Committee Co-Chairs Arleen Anderson (acanderson11@comcast.net) or Marcia Maras (marciamaras@aol.com). ■