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Volunteers - London

London Lawyers Feed the Hungry program founders Elaine and Claude Pensa.

Pensa family rallies legal community support for London hungry

In the spring of 2003, London litigation lawyer Claude Pensa and his wife Elaine returned home from a visit to Toronto’s Osgoode Hall knowing their lives had changed.

Volunteers in the London and Middlesex area for many years, Claude and Elaine had visited the Toronto Lawyers Feed the Hungry Program and resolved to help establish a similar community hunger relief service for their region.

The Pensas issued a call to action through their personal and professional networks and within the year London Lawyers Feed the Hungry was formed. Though Elaine passed on in early 2005, Claude has continued the work they started together.

Harrison Pensa lawyer and LLFTH committee member Tracy Leckie says program founder Claude Pensa has “been the leader in building support and recognition” for the community meal service and fund raising initiatives which are now widely recognized throughout the London area. 

“Claude set a goal for each London lawyer to contribute $100 annually to our program.  We have come a long way toward that goal, mostly by force of his personal example and moral suasion,” she says.  He can be found personally drafting and signing handwritten appeal letters.  Despite the sometimes illegible legal scrawl, “London lawyers know and respond to the message”.

Now semi-retired from active practice and doing mediation and arbitration through ADR Chambers, Mr. Pensa devotes considerable time to the program and other community charitable work.  His devotion to London Lawyers Feed the Hungry extends to making an annual appearance on stage for LLFTH’s signature rock and roll event Courthouse Rocks .    

The London Lawyers Feed the Hungry Program is always looking for enthusiastic individuals willing to contribute to their community in a concrete way. If you are interested, contact one of the following LLFH representatives listed below.