 James W. Hubbell III, Donald V. Adams, President David Maxwell, David McCord, Diane Caldbeck and Trudi Holst gather for a photo after the award presentation |
This year’s recipient of the community service award was David McCord, professor of law at Drake Law School. McCord is a founding organizer of the Meals from the Heartland program at Drake, which attracts nearly 4,000 volunteers per year to package more than 4 million meals in five days to deliver around the world.
“I recall that as a first-year law student in 1989, Professor McCord observed that Law School and the practice of law has a tendency to ‘extract your sympathies from you,'” said Human Resources Director Venessa Macro. “I remember that phrase vividly and have tried to guard against that. Clearly, Professor McCord has done the same.”
McCord has taught night courses on U.S. citizenship for immigrants seeking to pass the citizenship exam and created and taught a pre-GED course for immigrants at Drake. He’s served on the Board of Directors of the Midwest Legal Immigrant Project, a nonprofit legal services corporation, since its inception a decade ago. In recent years he’s worked closely with two Iraqi immigrant families, served as Mission Team Leader for his church and oversees the work of Drake law students as they provide pro bono legal services to the poor.