ACBA attorneys step up to combat hunger
by Erin Rhodes
For The Lawyers Journal
Once a grass-roots initiative, the bar foundation’s Attorneys Against Hunger campaign has grown into a community staple, raising over $935,000 for hunger service agencies since 1993. This year, the campaign raised over $111,000, proving once again that ACBA members truly respond when help is needed.
As a result of last year’s economic crisis, unemployment has become a serious reality for many in Allegheny County. Individuals who had never seen the inside of a food pantry now find themselves in need of supplementary food in order to provide for their families. This increase in client intake has created new hurtles for hunger service agencies already dealing with funding cutbacks.
Attorneys Against Hunger provides grants to fourteen local hunger service agencies, many of which are growing rapidly and have come to rely on the campaign’s support.
“The generous support of the Attorneys Against Hunger campaign made a huge difference in our hunger programs last year,” says Myrna Zelenitz, Executive Director of East End Cooperative Ministry, which began receiving funding in 2008.
“With the funds we received, we were able to provide emergency groceries to 168 families through our food pantry,” says Zelenitz. Each family received three days of groceries and household supplies, including toilet paper and dish soap. The pantry serves an average of 477 families each month.”
In addition to East End Cooperative Ministry, the campaign will provide grants to the following organizations: First Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Urban League of Pittsburgh Hunger Services, Intersection, Jubilee Kitchen, Just Harvest, Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, Rainbow Kitchen, Saint Mary of Mercy Parish, Smithfield United Church, Squirrel Hill Food Pantry, and Trinity Cathedral.
The bar foundation seeks donations not only from bar members, but also from ACBA Sections and area law firms. Almost all of the Sections increased their donations this year, contributing a total of $23,270. Additionally, 18 firms, companies, and organizations made donations ranging from $50 to $5,000, one firm forgoing its holiday party for the second year in a row in order to make a substantial donation to the campaign.
Much of the success of Attorneys Against Hunger is due to the dedicated support of LexisNexis which has underwritten the administrative costs of the campaign since its inception in 1993. It is because of this underwriting that the foundation has been able to distribute 100 percent of the proceeds directly to the food organizations year after year, something few other charitable programs have the ability to do. This is the last year LexisNexis will underwrite the campaign. The foundation is extremely grateful for LexisNexis’ steadfast commitment of 17 years of support!
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot, the McGinley Family members of the bar association, and the Rita M. McGinley Foundation, have been loyal supporters of Attorneys Against Hunger since 2003, when they offered their first challenge grant to the campaign. Every year thereafter, they continued to donate the grant once the campaign met its steadily increasing challenge goals. This year, the McGinley’s and Eckert Seamans provided another $15,000 grant when the campaign reached its challenge goal of $75,000.
The ACBA Young Lawyers Division is another consistent supporter of Attorneys Against Hunger, raising nearly $5,000 at the Eighth Annual YLD Skate-a-thon in December.
“This is one of my favorite campaigns that the foundation administers,” said ACBA Director Lorrie Albert.
“Our donors understand that this is a significant issue in our community. We have become an important part of the hunger fight. No one should have to go hungry in Allegheny County, and I believe we are doing our part to make that a reality.”
Campaign co-chairs Bryan Neft and Mary McGinley are constantly trying to brainstorm innovative ways to expand the campaign’s outreach into the community.
“As co-chairs, Brian and I transmit information between the agencies and members of the bar,” says McGinley.
“However, we thought it was important for our members to be able to see and ask questions of some of the agencies. To this end, this year's outreach events became even more important and many of the members that participated got to see how the hunger agencies that are supported are operated. Directors of some of the hunger agencies that we assisted offered to discuss their agencies with the Sections. All of this helps our members to understand how their support impacts the big picture. When people have that understanding, they are more willing to participate.”
The Attorneys Against Hunger Committee welcomed attorney Regina Wilson as a new member this year. Wilson joined the Committee after having volunteered with Attorneys Against Hunger on several occasions.
“[…]Children are no longer receiving two meals a day from school,” says Wilson. “Since my mother was a school administrator, the issue of hungry children has been a frequent topic at our dinner table because hungry children do not make the best students. AAH is a way for me to make a contribution to our local community to help deal with that issue.”
Monthly outreach events are an Attorneys Against Hunger tradition. During the 2009–2010 campaign, attorneys and their families volunteered at the Urban League’s annual Thanksgiving Distribution, Squirrel Hill Food Pantry, and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s Produce to People program on the South Side. February’s record-breaking snowstorm kept volunteers from attending Jubilee Kitchen in the Hill District. However, Jubilee Kitchen remained open, giving new meaning to the phrase “rain or shine.” The Jubilee Kitchen outreach event has been rescheduled to May 1.
The campaign is searching for a business or vendor that would like the exclusive opportunity to underwrite the Attorneys Against Hunger campaign. Please direct any suggestions to Foundation Director Lorrie Albert at 412-402-6640 or lalbert@acba.org.