Century City based Attorney and Habitat for Humanity advocate Rob Maylor founded LAYLA (Los Angeles Young Lawyers Association) as a way to bring people together to give back to the community...In just over six months, he has created a network of over 220 on Facebook, over 300 offline and over 600 that showed up on Saturday night at the Green Door, to "Party for a Purpose"...not bad at all for someone who moved to LA just over a year ago, and who already has a full time job! Teaming up with good friend and party promoter Andreas Counnas didn't hurt, and all proceeds raised at LAYLA's second event were donated to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles...Led by Rob, representatives of LAYLA will come help build a house for a Habitat family in mid-June.
"Why do a party? Well, Party for a Purpose! I LOVE HABITAT! I think that having a shelter and a home is a basic human need," explained Rob, "I wanted to give back to the community in my own small way, I'm just trying to do my part."
And so he did.... LAYLA’s event was a huge success, and featured everything a good event is made of (but what else would you expect from someone with such a good heart)...After free admission and a red carpet entrance, guests were treated to food and drinks at their own expense, but including treats such as lobster, steak and truffled mac n’ cheese (wait...it's not the Waverly Inn...but I digress...). LAYLA's raffle included giveaways of a Wii (donated by Nintendo), a ROCK BAND 2 (donated by Habitat's ongoing partner Harmonix) and even an autographed basketball by LA Laker Luke Walton (who has built a house with Habitat in the past and was only too happy to help out once again!)...Green Door also contributed, by donating 5% of the night's food and beverage tabs to Habitat for Humanity via LAYLA...guests included lawyers, young professionals and the stars of the VH1 show "The Pickup Artist."
"There's no other young attorney's group that does community service in LA...so we created one!”, said Rob. "I started LAYLA in November, with 10 friends that all wanted to do more for the community and network at the same time...well, it's working! Our first party had about 100 people attend, and this weekend it was over 600! And we'll be on twitter soon, so who knows?!" (Note to Rob: We love Twitter! Note to all: LAYLA even has its own intern program and gets young law students involved...for more info, contact Rob directly...)
On June 3, LAYLA will hold its next event, a Bowl-A-Thon at Lucky Strike...but not your typical bowling event...
"It's a COSTUME BOWL," said Rob, "Get dressed up and have a great time! We will have a DJ and teams of 4 from many local law firms..more info will come in the newsletter that we're sending out this week."
"This event was great, although from an organizational standpoint, it was chaotic... all my friends showed up to support Habitat and it was so busy! People were dressed to the nines…some girls looked like they were going to a wedding; a group of girls even wore all white dresses! There was just an outpouring of love and support...And every moment and dollar spent at the party helps put a roof over someone’s head, so it truly was a 'Party for a Purpose'...We’re looking forward to the bowl-a-thon..."
We couldn't resist...we needed to know, so we asked Rob, WHY exactly did he pick Habitat for Humanity GLA to be the beneficiary of his efforts? His answer said it all…
"When I thought of my organization and how we could utilize our philanthropic efforts to bring our own team together, Habitat was the natural choice. Building a house is a great team-building event for a group, and for a great cause...I wondered how I
could involve the most number of people in an event, and at the same time have fun and give back? Obviously the answer was HABITAT! ... So, for
those of you who haven't built with Habitat before...I highly recommend it."
HUGE THANKS to Rob, LAYLA, Green Door and all who attended...we look forward to your bowl-a-thon and your build day! Party for a Purpose indeed!
Labels: green door, habitat for humanity of greater L.A., lakers, layla, lucky strike, luke walton, pickup artist, rob maylor, rock band 2, vh1, wii