Law School sponsors community service day Aug. 31

As part of its new student orientation, the incoming class at the UW Law School will buy books, meet the faculty – and serve the community.

The Law School is sponsoring its first community service day for first-year law students Tuesday, Aug. 31. Approximately 300 students will fan out in groups of 25 to 12 locations in Dane County to paint, clean, prepare food, rehab wheelchairs and sort clothing, among other volunteer activities.

“It is our hope that this day marks the beginning of a journey into a profession that has service at its essence,” says Martha “Meg” Gaines, organizer of the event and the Law School’s assistant dean for student and academic affairs.

The new law students will meet at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Law School, 975 Bascom Mall, and travel by bus or walk to 10 locations in Madison, one in Stoughton and one outside of Verona.

Undertaking a variety of volunteer activities, students will work from 9 a.m.-noon. From noon-2 p.m. they will eat box lunches prepared by law school faculty and take part in an orientation session led by second- and third-year law students. During those sessions, students will introduce themselves and share why they want to become lawyers. Following lunch they will resume their volunteer duties until 5 p.m.

The students will stay in the same 25-member groups throughout their first semester of law school, taking many of the same classes together and providing an instant sense of community for them, Gaines says.

The university’s Morgridge Center for Public Service and the United Way of Dane County Volunteer Center helped organize the community service day. Gaines hopes to make the service day an annual part of new student orientation at the Law School.

Students will serve at the following locations and undertake the following activities:

• Madison Parks Division, Warner Park Community Center, Northport Drive, Madison. Prepare the community center for its opening.
• Community Housing and Services Inc., 306 N. Brooks St., Madison. Painting, lawn work.
• Community Thrift Store, 1816 Park St., Madison. Sort, price clothes.
• Dane County Parks, Ice Age Trail, Junction area (east of Hwy. M between Hwy. PD and Cross County Road north of Verona). Collect seeds for prairie restoration.
• Friends of WHA-TV, 821 University Ave. Call volunteers for upcoming auction.
• Salvation Army Community Center, 3030 Darbo Dr., Madison. Clean, move furniture and other materials.
• Salvation Army, 630 E. Washington Ave., Madison. Paint, prepare lunch.
• Three Gaits Inc., 3741 Hwy. 138, Stoughton. Paint fences, clean stalls at horseriding facility for disabled persons.
• Urban League of Greater Madison, 151 E. Gorham St., Madison. Clean, paint inside and outside the building.
• Wheelchair Recycling Project, 3531 International Lane, Madison. Clean, rehab wheelchairs.
• YMCA (East), 711 Cottage Grove Rd., Madison. Paint, clean, sterilize day care toys.
• YWCA, 101 E. Mifflin St., Madison. Paint, clean.