For our readers who are not already aware, the ISBA Women and the Law Committee partners yearly with WOMEN EVERYWHERE: Partners in Service Project, Inc. (“WE”), to solicit and coordinate volunteer activities for women and children in need around the state. Many of our committee members were also founding members and have served on WE’s Board and contributed countless hours in service. Various other ISBA members have over the last seven years of WE’s growth volunteered time and services on the Educational Program and Community Service Day. This year is no exception. We (your ISBA Women and the Law Committee) hope to report in these pages in the coming months on volunteer sites around the state and how they participated in these wonderful service project days.

This year WE’s Educational Program was held May 5th and the Community Service Day was held May 19th. If you missed this year’s dates or were unable to donate of your time, we are asking that you “Donate-a-Dollar” in the name of our ISBA’s Women and the Law Committee to the college scholarship fund which gives $1,000 scholarships to girls in need. In this era with college funding under fire, every single dollar counts. One thousand of us contributing just one dollar each (less then a daily café latte) could help fund one college scholarship for a girl. Think of this—we as Catalyst readers are approximately 7,500 in number. If each Catalyst reader contributed only one dollar, we could fund seven scholarships. 

At our regular committee meeting on Saturday, April 22, 2006, in Peoria, Illinois, the Women and the Law Committee already raised and donated $120 for this year’s scholarship fund. Only 880 more $1s to go and we can proudly say our Committee has made a difference to a young woman going to college. Just for the fun of it, if you would like to report you have “donated a dollar” in the name of our Committee, please send a quick e-mail to committee member Sandra Crawford at lawcrawford@sbcglobal.net. WE’s slogan is “TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.” This is also a heartfelt aspiration of your Women and the Law Committee. Please donate just one dollar and help make that difference. 

Additional information about the project, the services days, and how you can get involve and/or donate go to www.women-everywhere.org or write to: Women Everywhere c/o Chicago Bar Foundation 321 Plymouth Court, Chicago, IL 60604.