Law School Hosts Thanksgiving Dinner for Charity

As a slideshow with pictures of flood damage in Pakistan played in the background, Harvard Law students dined on not only Thanksgiving fare—turkey, sweet potatoes, and green beans—but also on mozzarella sticks, quesadillas, and buffalo wings at the second annual “Thanksgiving Dinner for a Cause” last night.

The event, which raised more than $5,000, was put on by the Harvard Law School Student Government to raise money for flood relief in Pakistan.

Five hundred tickets at $10 each were sold for the dinner at Pound Hall, with 100 percent of proceeds going toward the effort, said Jennifer D. Dein, a third-year law school student and president of the HLS Student Government. The dinner was advertised mostly to law school students, Dein said, but professors and other graduate students also attended.

The price of a ticket included an all-you-can-eat dinner and open bar. Local establishments Tommy Doyle’s, When Pigs Fly, Crema Cafe, Wagamama, Trader Joe’s, and Pinocchio’s Pizza & Subs donated food for the dinner, and Finale Desserterie & Bakery donated cakes for dessert.

“We basically went door-to-door to restaurants, brought information about the event, brought the tax-deduction, and pleaded with them and called them until they were willing to donate,” Dein said.

Ellen M. Cosgrove, HLS associate dean and dean of students, supplied pies, which she and her staff served, and the rest of the food was bought by the Student Government from the caterer Restaurant Associates.

“I was a little surprised by some of the food,” said Karen R. Boutros, a third-year law school student. “I was expecting  more of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which does not typically include buffalo wings. But this is very nice.”

As well, for a dollar per ticket, attendees could enter a raffle for a chance to win a $500 gift card to a bar exam preparation course as well as gift cards to local eateries, with all proceeds going to the flood relief.

Last year’s event raised money for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year, HLS students got to vote on the cause they wanted the dinner to support.

Last year the dinner ran out of food, so this year the Director of Student Engagement for the Student Government Lina Jun said the group planned ahead by having servers at the buffet instead of self-serve buffets as was the case last year.

“I think it was a really great event,” said second-year law school student Stephen W. Henrick. “It was for a very good cause, they had a lot of good food, and we all get to get together like this. It’s nice to have a little Thanksgiving dinner.”