GW EJF News

APALSA/EJF Thirsty Thursday!

Please join us for free Beer (the good stuff & three kegs of it)!!!

Thursday, April 1st from 4pm-6pm.

Help us kick off APA Heritage Month and the EJF Auction.

There will also be tasty Asian snacks + free Auction t-shirts. See you there!

What A Race!

The first annual GW Race for Justice was a huge success! The temperature was just right, the course was fast and smooth, and everyone had a great time -- as you can see from these photos! All of the racers and GW's LRAP program owe a big thanks to Logan and Jocelyn for putting the race together and making it such fun. We're looking forward to an even bigger and better race next year. Can you say "Section v. Section"? I knew you could. See you there next year!

Announcing The 1% Club

Are you getting paid to work at a firm this year? If so, congratulations! You'll get great experience and be well on your way to a successful legal career. Now, make your summer experience count twice by joining the GW 1% Club!

What it is: Members in the 1% Club agree to donate 1% of their summer job earnings to the EJF. All proceeds will go directly toward EJF grants for students whose summer jobs do not pay.

How it works: In the next few days you'll find a 1% Club Membership Form in your mailbox. Simply fill it out and return it to the EJF. You can either make your membership donation immediately (by check, cash, or credit card), or you can send it in any time this summer.

Benefits of Membership: This is your chance to "share the wealth" -- while you're getting well-paid this summer and earning terrific experience, you'll also be helping to provide legal services to the neediest members of the community! You'll also get a great t-shirt that shows you're a Club Member, and your name will be added to the 1% Club Membership List, which will be published each year in the EJF Auction Program in recognition of your generosity and community spirit.

Welcome to the club!

There's Still Time!

The auction is now approximately 2 weeks and 2 days away, but guess what: There's still time to get in your volunteer hours and bring in donations so you can qualify for an EJF grant this summer! Perhaps you missed the deadline to apply for summer subsidies from GW (that deadline was today), or perhaps you applied but would like to hedge your bets (GW only gives approx. 35 grants and many many more than that apply). Never fear! EJF is here!

The auction now needs you more than ever, and what we need most is stuff to sell! Lucky for you, bringing in stuff to sell is also how you qualify for a grant. Here's what you do:

1) Download and print out a solicitation letter, a fact sheet, a donation form, and a grant application.

2) Make copies of the solicitation letter, fact sheet, and donation form.

3) Go to your favorite businesses with letter, fact sheet, and donation form in hand. Tell them you're w/EJF, all donations are tax deductible, and we can use anything they can offer. (If you'd like to see the database of businesses to which we sent solicitation letters in recent months, email me and I'll send you a copy.)

4) Call your parents, relatives, and associates. Tell them you're raising money so you can get paid this summer, and if they could donate anything at all (including cash), it would help immensely! If you get a big-ticket item -- i.e., superbowl tickets or plane tickets to anywhere, a weekend at a resort or beach house, a scenic plane ride (in someone's cessna, for example), etc. -- we'll count it as two donations (or more, depending on the item).

5) Put the donations you collect in the EJF mailbox in the records office or give them to one of us so we can make sure you get credit for them. Donations due by April 1.

6) Plan to volunteer for a few hours in the first week of April and especially on the day of the auction, April 8th. We'll need more than a dozen people to put in several hours each on the 8th alone, and there will be more volunteer options leading up to the auction and immediately following.

7) Fill out your grant application and turn it in by April 9th (the day after the auction). Grant recipients will be announced April 11th.

That's it! It's easy! It's fun! You can do it, and when you're not charging up your rent this summer because you're living off your EJF grant, you'll be glad you made this effort now!

Questions? Let us know via email, and/or check back here frequently -- we'll be sure to post important updates as they happen.

Thanks everyone! Good luck soliciting!

Auction Happy Hour!!

Please join the Auction Board at Froggy Bottom this Friday from 5pm to 8pm for plenty of public interest fun!

Who: Anyone interested in or already helping with the Auction
When: Friday, March 19th from 5-8pm
Where: Froggy Bottom Pub- 2142 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
What: Updated volunteer opportunities, latest application materials, fun, fun, fun!

The Auction is just three weeks away and we need everyone's help to make this event a great success, so please come find out the latest Auction news and opportunities. For more information, please contact George.

Learn from Lexis, Help the Auction

Would you like to help raise funds for EJF Summer Grants and learn something valuable in the process? Then go to a LEXIS training session and be sure you tell them you're there for the EJF! You'll also get two weeks free LEXIS usage at your summer job and be entered to win a Louis Vuitton handbag or one of many other "surprises." You can download the full details here (PDF), but the basics are as follows:

LEXIS will donate $5 per person up to $500 for each student attending a 30-minute "Build Your Future" training session before March 31, 2004. Attendees must note that they are there for the EJF on the sign in sheet during class. There is a one donation per student policy. (Attendees may not attend a session on behalf of EJF and another session on behalf of another organization.)

The training dates/times are as follow:

Thursday, March 18th: 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm
Monday, March 22nd: 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm
Wednesday, March 24th: 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm
Tuesday, March 30th: 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm

Register online at the LEXIS MySchool Tab or go to the LEXIS for Lawschool homepage and select the My School tab there.

Please attend, learn a thing or two, perhaps win something, and help us make the Auction a huge success!

Flyer Me to the Moon

Hey, did you hear about what's happening April 8th? Check out those kick-ass flyers (click the pic to enlarge). More coming soon...

Let the fun begin!

Welcome back from spring break, everyone! Are you ready to rumble?

The auction is now just a bit more than three weeks away! (Three weeks, four days, to be exact.) Now is the time to get involved! If you plan to apply for a grant this summer, now is the perfect time to start rounding up some donations and putting in a few volunteer hours toward your 14-hour total. Check out the materials on our volunteer information page for more information on how to get involved, then get started!

Race for Justice: Save the Date!

Hey, it's time to get outside and start enjoying that great weather. Why not start training for a 5k!? EJF’s 1st Annual Race for Justice is just a month away!

Who: Faculty, students, alumni, friends
What: 5K Run/Walk
When: Saturday, March 27th @ 8am
Where: Hains Point, along the Potomac
Why: Raise money for the GW LRAP program -- support public interest work at GW!

Details, brochures, and entry forms coming soon… watch your mailboxes!

Contact Logan Hambrick or
Jocelyn Stotts if you have questions.

Women Put Men to Shame

Thanks to AJ, Manuela, Veronica, and Ethan, we had a very successful and educational soliciting run last Saturday in Georgetown. As predicted, the weather was beautiful and businesses were jammed with shoppers out enjoying all that sunshine. We split into two teams -- women v. men -- and set off down opposite sides of M Street. A couple of hours later, we'd hit just about every business on the street, secured a number of donations, and left close to 60 donation forms with people who may yet donate. At the end of the day, we tallied up our donations and the women had put the men to shame by collecting far more donations. I was on the men's team and I just keep thinking, if only we hadn't spent so much time in that tattoo shop, maybe we would have had a better chance! ;-)

But seriously, we learned that a sunny Saturday is probably not the best time to solicit donations for the auction -- managers are simply too busy keeping up with the flow of customers to be able to talk to us at such times. We'll be going out again sometime over spring break (next week!), perhaps Wednesday afternoon. Watch this space for more information.

Meanwhile, keep bringing in those donations -- every donation will help to make this year's auction the best ever.