November 5, 2008

Cooley Law Students Partner with Lighthouse of Oakland County to Feed 100 Families at Thanksgiving

Student organizations at the Auburn Hills campus of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School are working together in a coordinated effort to provide 100 underserved Oakland County families with complete turkey dinners for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. On Monday, Nov. 24, Cooley students will bring enough items donated by the Cooley community to feed 100 families for the Lighthouse of Oakland County’s Annual Thanksgiving Basket Food Drive.

Maud Plumer, Thanksgiving Program Coordinator at Lighthouse, thanked Cooley for being willing to help as the number of people requesting assistance this holiday season has sharply increased. “Last year, we fed 900 clients (for Thanksgiving). This year, our clients number around 1,500.”

Assistant Dean Joan Vestrand talked about the need to encourage public service in law students. “Service is such an important part of professional development.” Vestrand told Cooley faculty and staff, “I am personally extremely proud of this collaborative effort and urge that we show our support (through donations) for our students coming together for such a great cause.”

Emery McClendon, a Cooley student in his fourth term of law school, is spearheading the “Cooley Cares: Feeding 100” drive. McClendon indicated that after assembling the donated goods, Cooley students will drive the meals to the Lighthouse facility and hold a press conference in an effort to inspire the community to do more and also to thank those who made feeding 100 metro Detroit families possible.

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School adopted an award-winning Professionalism Plan in 2002 designed to help create a culture of professionalism and service-orientation in the law school.

Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country with over 12,000 graduates worldwide.  Cooley has three locations across Michigan; its campus in downtown Lansing, its downtown Grand Rapids campus, and its Oakland County campus. In addition to the Juris Doctor program, students at Cooley can also pursue a Master of Laws degree in taxation or intellectual property. For more information, visit www.cooley.edu