Annual Fund Supports HALO Trip to East St. Louis

When UC Davis School of Law alumni give to the King Hall Annual Fund, the support has a direct impact on the educational experience of today’s students.  Recently, the Annual Fund helped fund a trip by the students in the UC Davis School of Law Humanitarian Aid Legal Organization (HALO) to East St. Louis, Illinois, that proved to be an eye-opening, first-hand experience of poverty, homelessness, urban blight, and other problems faced by the people there.

Though the HALO students raised about $4,000 for the trip, hosting bake sales and other fundraising events, the group was still short of its fundraising goal as the March 21 departure date approached.  Eric Yau, HALO’s treasurer, approached the Dean’s office for help, and thanks to the support of the King Hall community, the Law School was able to utilize the Annual Fund to make up the difference.

East St. Louis, which sits directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, is a predominately African American community that has been profoundly impacted by the loss of jobs as factories, meatpacking plants, and railroad facilities left the region.  Over the course of the past four decades, the city has become a tragic example of urban blight, with vacant buildings, gang violence, failing sewers, substandard schools, and other problems.

With help from the Annual Fund, 17 King Hall students traveled to East St. Louis in late March to work with the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, to teach lessons in “street law” to local high school students, volunteer at a thrift shop and soup kitchen, and meet with poor and homeless residents.  Students wrote about the trip and posted photos on a blog on the HALO website, expressing the importance of the experience.

“Though the tangible accomplishments we made during our time in East St. Louis may have been small, I still believe the trip was important,” Lorin Kline ’10 stated.  “And it is my hope that we inspired some hope in the people we met and let them know that everyone has not forgotten, that there are people willing to help, and that compassion does exist.  It is just one step, but I think we all grew from the experience.”

Student activities such as the HALO trip serve to demonstrate some of the ways private support can positively impact the quality of education at King Hall.  Now, more than ever, the continued excellence of UC Davis School of Law depends on the continued support of the King Hall Annual Fund.  Please consider a gift to the King Hall Annual Fund today!