YLD Helps Out at 10K Book Bag Giveaway

On August 16, 2009, The Life Center Church, in partnership with Councilmember At-Large for the District of Columbia, Kwame R. Brown, sponsored Life Day: 10,000 Book Bag Giveaway at The Life Center Church in Camp Springs, Maryland, and the Ambulatory Care Center at the DC General Hospital campus in Washington, D.C.  Thousands of children, parents and grandparents appeared at both locations, while many volunteers braved the summer heat to assist in providing needed resources to the schoolchildren of the D.C. metropolitan area.  Several of the volunteers at the Ambulatory Care Center were members of our very own Young Lawyers Division.

Included in the YLD contingent was YLD Chair, Yaida Ford, who recruited YLD members for the event and encouraged many of her friends and colleagues to donate school supplies for the giveaway.  “I know how bad the stats are for kids in D.C. schools.  The literacy rates are low and the drop-out rates are high,” said Ms. Ford.  “I felt the book bag giveaway was a hands-on solution to a very solvable problem - lack of resources.  I also felt that YLD could make a valuable contribution.”  Ms. Ford and her fellow YLD members helped fill thousands of book bags with notebooks, pencils and other necessities.  

As the long line formed outside the Ambulatory Care Center, it became obvious to all those involved the critical service this book bag giveaway was providing to the community.  The lines were so long, and the weather so hot, that the doors to the event were opened much earlier than scheduled.  Young and old waited patiently and orderly, as the volunteers prepared the bags and passed them out.  “I will always remember the line of people snaked through the facility and out the door as people awaited their free book bags and supplies,” said Allison Brown, the YLD Professional Development Chair, who brought her son to help out and experience the importance of community service.  “[T]he experience was made exponentially more valuable to me with him at my side learning about how he, too, can contribute to making our world better.”

Indeed, all of us who volunteered on that day were struck with the importance of getting involved in improving our community. 

YLD Treasurer, Jason Grant and YLD Chair, Yaida Ford at the 10,000 Book Bag Giveaway

Particularly as it concerns African American and economically disadvantaged children, our roles as professionals go beyond advancing in our own careers, but we should also lead in the improvement of society and mold leaders for the generations that follow us.  This sentiment was also expressed by YLD member, Tamara McDowell.  

“I am a huge supporter of giving back to my community in any way possible.  I believe that it is important for us to help those who are less fortunate or less privileged. We should try to uplift and support those who need it.” McDowell was also impressed with the goal of the event to provide school supplies to the schoolchildren of the D.C. area.  “So many of our black children in this city go without and some attend school without adequate clothing, food and school supplies.”

In the end, nearly 5,000 book bags were given away at the Ambulatory Care Center location in less than three hours, with the rest of the 10,000 bags given away at the Life Center Church. Moreover, it was great to see every YLD volunteer stay until the very last book bag was given away. When asked what memory she will always remember from the event, Yaida Ford said there were two - “the old lady who had 10 kids with her and proclaimed that she had brought some of the neighborhood kids along with her grandkids because ‘someone had to.’  The other is when Mr. Ric (one of the event supervisors) announced that the last book bag was given away and all the ‘YLDers’ were still present. I have a bad group of peers, man.” 

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