McGuireWoods LLP has received the Smithfield Ham Award for the seventh consecutive year for collecting more donations—the equivalent of 275,039 pounds of food– than any other large Virginia law firm during the Eighth Annual Statewide Legal Food Frenzy.
The statewide food drive, organized by the Virginia Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks is a friendly competition among Virginia law firms, legal departments and law schools to raise donations for local food banks.
Participants raised the equivalent of more than 1.4 million pounds of food for Virginia’s needy during this year’s drive, which was held during the first two weeks of April. More than 11.4 million pounds have been raised since the competition’s inception in 2007.
As part of its contribution, McGuireWoods hosted an April 13 fundraising dinner in Charlottesville to benefit the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. The sold-out event at The Space Downtown raised more than $25,000 to provide meals to the area’s hungry.
“Even though we’ve been at this for eight years, there’s no loss of enthusiasm for this event both at McGuireWoods and amongst participants statewide,” said Derek H. Swanson, one of the statewide co-chairs of the Legal Food Frenzy and an associate in McGuireWoods’ Richmond office.
Last year, members of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks distributed almost 137 million pounds of food and grocery products to individuals in need of food assistance.
The Virginia Office of the Attorney General, the Virginia Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks joined efforts in 2007 to create Legal Food Frenzy, an annual food drive and fundraiser. Visit www.legalfoodfrenzy.com for more information.