Hartford, CT (PRWEB) October 02, 2014 -- From June through August, Robinson+Cole lawyers and staff headed out of the office to volunteer with 11 different nonprofit organizations based in Boston, Hartford, New York, Providence, and Stamford in the firm’s second annual Summer of Service. In total, they spent more than 270 hours assisting with activities such as beautifying parks, organizing distribution centers, and serving food.
“Our Summer of Service program was very well received last year, by both our lawyers and staff and the organizations we volunteered with,” said John H. Kane, chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. “The program is in keeping with our firm’s history of actively giving back to the community, and it also fosters teamwork and comradery among our lawyers and staff whose work might not give them the opportunity to interact on a day-to-day basis.”
The firm’s Diversity Committee and Women’s Committee co-sponsor the program, identifying organizations in each community that had volunteer needs during business hours and coordinating the participation of all the volunteers.
In Hartford, volunteers helped the Elizabeth Park Conservancy spruce up its gardens by weeding heavily overgrown beds; they readied Camp Courant for welcoming its thousands of summer campers by working to get the grounds in order; through Hands On Hartford, a group assisted Peter’s Retreat by organizing an activity for its residents while another team served lunch at MANNA Community Meals; and at Foodshare’s regional market, volunteers helped sort, inspect, and repack produce.
Both The Open Door Shelter and SoundWaters benefited from the volunteer efforts of lawyers and staff from the firm’s Stamford office. At The Open Door, whose mission is to effectively address the causes and complexities of the homeless and working poor by providing services to put them on a path towards independence and success, volunteers helped prepare and serve lunch. Through SoundWaters, an organization working to protect Long Island Sound through education and action, volunteers helped clean up the beach at Cove Island Park.
Volunteers from the New York office hit the sidewalk to deliver meals to the elderly through Citymeals-on-Wheels. The organization is one of the largest meal delivery services for the homebound elderly in the U.S., providing nearly 2 million meals to over 17,000 individuals each year.
The Greater Boston Food Bank put members of the firm’s Boston office to work in their vast warehouse, where the volunteers sorted food, stocked shelves, and checked expiration dates. The food bank is the largest hunger relief organization in New England. Groups also served lunch at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans, which serves over 130,000 resident meals each year, in addition to providing housing, vocational training, and permanent home placements for veterans.
Volunteers in Providence helped the Rhode Island Community Food Bank with its warehouse operations by stocking shelves, sorting food, and checking expiration dates. This food bank distributes millions of pounds of donated food and nonfood household products to the community through its member network of more than 250 agency food programs across Rhode Island. A team also assisted the Nature Conservancy, clearing trails and building a bridge and a bench in the nature preserve.
Robinson+Cole’s Commitment to the Community
The tradition of staying connected and giving back to the community that started with the firm’s founding partners has remained a part of Robinson+Cole’s culture through the years. The firm continues to actively support and participate in initiatives that enrich our communities. Ever since the firm’s founding, our charitable outreach has been as diversified as the interests and passions of our attorneys and staff. Many of our lawyers play leadership roles in nonprofit organizations. Additionally, the firm’s staff supports multiple nonprofit agencies, charities, and entities throughout the year through the program R+C Cares. Activities organized across the firm’s offices have ranged from teams walking to raise funds for breast cancer research to organizing supply drives for veterans and school children.
About Robinson+Cole
Robinson+Cole is a service mark of Robinson & Cole LLP, an Am Law 200 firm with 200 lawyers in nine offices serving regional, national, and international clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Since 1845, Robinson & Cole LLP has expanded to meet the changing needs of clients. The firm represents corporate, governmental, and nonprofit entities, as well as individual clients, in a wide range of matters, including corporate; business and insurance litigation; tax and tax-exempt; finance; public finance; land use, environmental and utilities, and real estate; health law; labor, employment, and benefits; intellectual property and technology; and government relations. For more information, please visit http://www.rc.com.
Jessica Gagnon, Robinson & Cole LLP, http://www.rc.com, +1 (860) 541-2649, [email protected]
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