PILF Honors Donate-a-Day Participants
PILF Co-Chair Colby Freeman 3L (left), former PILF grant recipient Janice Jentz ‘06 (middle), and 2008 donor Dalene Bramer 3L at the PILF Donate-a-Day reception.
The Donate-a-Day program was created by members of the Moot Court Board and the USF Law Review to give students with paid summer positions the opportunity to assist those interested in public interest work--work that is generally unpaid. It began with a few students pledging a day of their summer salaries to PILF for summer grants. This year the program raised $7,238, roughly the amount needed to fund two grants for the summer of 2009. These funds will be combined with additional money raised by PILF throughout the year to provide summer grants for those students working in the public interest sector.
"For me, the Donate a Day Program...is perhaps the most meaningful part of the work that PILF does each year because of the sacrifice that the students themselves make to help their fellows," said PILF Co-Chair Colby Freeman 3L. PILF's largest fundraising event is the annual auction and award ceremony. In addition to hosting a silent and live auction during the event, PILF honors members of the community with the Public Interest Law Award for Excellence. The honorees for this year's event--to be held Nov. 7--will be Therese Stewart of the San Francisco City Attorney's Office and Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights for their work on same-sex marriage cases. Last year, after combining all fundraising efforts and matching funds from the Office of the Dean, PILF was able to fund 25 grantees with $4,000 each to work in public interest positions.
