By Ramona M. Sullivan
After months of anticipation, the Lawyers Feeding Illinois campaign has come to an end. Before counting the offline donations, Illinois lawyers have already raised more than one million meals for the hungry. When the rest of the money has been counted and all of the food has been weighed, it looks like this campaign will have a significant impact for Illinois food banks.
Congratulations to John Thies for presenting such a good idea, and congratulations to the Association for getting it done.
It has been a joy to participate in this campaign while attorneys all over the state encouraged one another to be generous. As a member of many bar associations in central Illinois, I have been included in dozens of clever email exchanges and Facebook messages over the past few weeks. I was surprised by the persistence of some of the team leaders, amused by their humor, and touched by their sincerity.
Perhaps this experience reminded us of the primary reason we chose our profession when we were younger and less cynical: we wanted to help people in need.
Judging from the success of this campaign, that’s still exactly what we want to do.
Ramona Sullivan is an attorney with Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc. She is President of the Edgar County Bar Association, serves on the Board of Governors of the Champaign County Bar Association, is the past Chair of the ISBA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and serves on the Standing Committee for Legal Education, Admission and Competence.