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Virginia legal community raises more than 1.3 million pounds of food for those in need

mark herringAttorney General Mark R. Herring announced this week that law firms, legal departments, government offices, and law schools across Virginia joined together to raise the equivalent of more than 1.3 million pounds of food for Virginia’s hungry during this year’s statewide Legal Food Frenzy, a two-week drive in April to raise food and funds for Virginia food banks. This year’s contributions bring the total raised during the annual drive to more than 12.7 million pounds over its nine years.

“It was an honor to again partner with the legal community and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks for this fun and important project,” said Attorney General Herring. “We pushed the Food Frenzy all across the state this year and communities from Roanoke to Northern Virginia to Richmond to Hampton Roads will benefit from the commitment and generosity of the Virginia legal community.”

The Legal Food Frenzy, a collaboration between the Attorney General’s Office, the Young Lawyers Division of the Virginia Bar Association, and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, pitted Virginia law firms and legal departments against each other in a friendly competition to see who could raise the most food for food banks in their local communities.

This year, the firm of B. Cullen Gibson from Norfolk took overall first place for the fifth consecutive year by raising 25,050 pounds per person, and as a result, won the coveted Attorney General’s Cup. Attorney General Herring notified the firm of its victory with a phone call on Tuesday. The Office of the Attorney General retained its “Urbanna Oyster Award” as the top contributor in the government and public sector category.

“The legal community has once again provided much needed food and funds to their local food banks at a very critical time, raising the equivalent of over 12.7 million pounds of food in the last 9 years across the Commonwealth of Virginia” said Leslie Van Horn, Executive Director of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, a partner state association of Feeding America. Last year, Federation members distributed over 142 million pounds of food and grocery products to almost 1.2 million individuals in need of emergency food assistance.”

In addition to thanking the food drive coordinators and representatives across the state, Attorney General Herring offers a special thanks to Leslie Van Horn and the Virginia Bar Association’s Young Lawyer’s Divisoin co-chairs Chris Gill from Christian & Barton, Derek Swanson from McGuireWoods, Lauren Wheeling from Williams Mullen, Stacey Forbes from Reed Smith, and Will Prince from ThompsonMcMullan for organizing the campaign.

Note: Pounds of food listed above and below are counted by both food and cash donations. Cash donations are converted using the formula of $1 = 4 pounds of food.

 

The winners of the 9th Annual Statewide “Legal Food Frenzy” Categories:

  • Attorney General’s Cup Winner: Per Capita:

B. Cullen Gibson (Norfolk)                                                          25,050 pounds per person

  • Small (1-20) Law Firm: Total Pounds: “The Brunswick Stew Award”

MercerTrigiani (Alexandria)                                                         21,680 pounds

  • Small (1-20) Law Firm: Per Capita: “The Shenandoah Apple Award”

Roussos, Glanzer & Barnhart P.L.C. (Norfolk)              2,588 pounds per person

  • Medium (21-100) Law Firm Total Pounds: “The James River Shad Award”

Christian & Barton LLP  (Richmond)                                          68,191 pounds

  • Medium (21-100) Law Firm Per Capita: “The Hanover Tomato Award”

McKenry Dancigers Dawson P.C. (Virginia Beach)                    1,595 pounds per person

  • Large (101 and up) Law Firm Total Pounds: “The Smithfield Ham Award”

McGuireWoods LLP (all locations)                                              128,110 pounds

  • Large (101 and up) Law Firm Per Capita: “The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Award”

Kaufman & Canoles (all locations)                                               604 pounds per person

  • Sole Proprietor (1-2) Law Firm Total Pounds: “The Virginia Peanut Award”

Ronald Page, PLC (Richmond)                                                    10,249 pounds

  • Law School Winner of Attorney General’s Cup

William & Mary Law School (Williamsburg)                               4,938 pounds

  • Government and Public Service Total Pounds:  “The Urbanna Oyster Award”

Office of the Attorney General (Richmond)                                69,265 pounds

  • Government and Public Service Per Capita  “The Old Dominion Soybean Award”

Prince William County Attorney’s Office                                    1,645 pounds per person

  • Legal Department Per Capita:        “The Virginia Strawberry Award”

Norfolk Southern Corporation Legal Department (Norfolk)       1728 pounds per person

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