The Dorothy O. Cook Community Center, a new home for the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in East St. Louis, was dedicated May 15 with an open house. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan spoke at the ceremony.

The building at 8787 State St. was purchased and renovated with funds from a $2 million campaign among members of the Southern Illinois legal community.

The lead donation of $625,000 was made by Belleville attorney Bruce N. Cook and his wife, Sandra. The building is named in honor of his mother, Dorothy O. Cook, an educator and community leader who lived in the neighborhood where it is located.

The center houses about 40 LLLAF staff members, headed by executive director Lois Wood. Administrative and legal aid hotline personnel serve senior citizens and low-income residents of 65 counties and handle about 12,000 cases a year.

LLLAF offices are also located in Champaign, Springfield, Carbondale and Alton, with satellite presence in Charleston, Decatur and Mt. Vernon.

The new telephone number of the East St. Louis headquarters office is (618) 398-0574, and the fax number is (618) 398-0681. Lois Wood may be contacted at lwood@lollaf.org.

“I can honestly say that the future has never looked brighter for Land of Lincoln,” Wood said. What we accomplish together truly makes a difference in the lives of thousands of people in Illinois who need what we have the unique ability to give them: equal access to justice.”

Wood is a Laureate of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers, as is her predecessor, Joseph R. Bartylak of Alton.