PRESS RELEASE
SOUTH BEND – A competition between lawyers and law firms to raise funds and donations of food to Indiana’s regional food banks generated the monetary equivalent of 76 tons of food, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced today.
“With many of our fellow Hoosiers struggling to put food on the table during the recession, food banks have been an essential lifeline. But the food banks themselves have seen their supplies dwindle due to increased demand,” Zoeller said. “That’s why I am enormously proud of members of the legal profession who have opened their hearts and checkbooks and stepped up to meet this critical need.”
During the March Against Hunger drive that lasted from March 16 to 31, lawyers and law firms statewide competed to raise the largest amounts in donations, both monetarily and in quantities of nonperishable goods. Zoeller is presenting an award – the Attorney General’s Cup – to the biggest-donating firms in each of three categories: Large firms of 25 lawyers or more, small firms of two to 24 lawyers, and sole practitioners.
Barnes & Thornburg LLP was the winner of the large firm division, with four of its offices generating an aggregate $7,639 in monetary contributions and 1,184 pounds in donations of canned goods and other food items.
“Significantly, one attorney at the Barnes & Thornburg office in South Bend anonymously donated $1,600 – the equivalent of a truck load of food,” Zoeller added. “Such generosity by an individual and a law firm are reflective of a civic-minded commitment to public service.”
Donations from Barnes & Thornburg regional offices are comprised of the following:
-South Bend: $3,047 and 359 pounds of food that went to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana in South Bend.
-Indianapolis: $3,420 and 724 pounds of food that went to the Gleaners Food bank of Indiana in Indianapolis.
-Elkhart: $1,080 and 32 pounds of food that went to the United Way of Elkhart County.
-Fort Wayne: $92 and 69 pounds of food that went to the Community Harvest Food Bank in Fort Wayne.
Cumulatively, among 45 competing law offices and law firms statewide – along with 10 satellite offices – that participated in March Against Hunger, a total of 10,093 pounds of food was donated, along with another $28,542.63 in monetary contributions to the effort.
Using a conversion formula of each dollar being equal to 5 pounds of food, the drive raised the equivalent of 152,806 pounds of food.
Zoeller partnered with the nonprofit food-bank umbrella organization Feeding Indiana’s Hungry or FIsH and the Indiana State Bar Association to organize March Against Hunger. Donations from law offices were steered to the nearest local food bank.
Zoeller presented the large-firm Attorney General’s Cup to Barnes & Thornburg today at the Food Bank of Northern Indiana in South Bend. That food bank is receiving a total 557 pounds of donated food items and $3,567 in contributions from four area law firms.
In Indianapolis and the surrounding area, a total of 26 law firms or law offices donated an aggregate total of 5,229 pounds of food and $18,293.90 to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana in Indianapolis.
Firms received bonus points if they delivered their donated items to their local food bank.
Winners of the small firm and sole practitioner categories in the March Against Hunger will be announced at a later date.
