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Perkins Coie has been an essential partner of Bread for the City for over 12 years, and Holiday Helpings is how they make their biggest and most dynamic impact. Each year, the staff at Perkins Coie volunteer their time, voice, and money to help Bread for the City provide the necessary items for thousands of holiday meals. This year, with the adaption to provide $50 gift cards to low-income families who are profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Perkins Coie team did not miss a beat to continue standing by our clients, helping us meet our goal of serving 15,000 community members. With the flexibility of the gift cards, clients have the ability and option to purchase a holiday meal or medical supplies, pay a bill or put gas in the tank, and use the gift card for priorities in their lives.  With Perkins Coie’s historic partnership, it only made sense that we kick-off the operation with their support, and so, team members joined our efforts the first week of November to volunteer with us and help contact clients to confirm contact information for safe gift card transfers. A massive and vital endeavor.

“It’s something that I look forward to every year and I’m so grateful to be a part of it,” said Jody Sullivan, Legal Staff Supervisor at Perkins Coie. “It’s special because it involves our whole office and it’s something we do as a firm in DC. It’s warming to the heart to be able to help the community.”

Perkins Coie is an international law firm with 20 offices across the United States, China, and Taiwan. The firm opened its Washington, D.C., office in 1979 with a focus on litigation, intellectual property, government contracts, and much more, and we are thrilled their workload doesn’t stop them from giving back, building sustainable community partnerships, and investing in underserved communities.

“Our attorneys and staff feel strongly about giving back to the city. Our firm has been in DC for almost 40 years,” said Donald J. Friedman, Partner at Perkins Coie. “Well over 90 percent of our partners participate by making contributions, many of them are very generous donations. Holiday Helpings is the most strongly supported campaign in the office.”

And what a major gift their support is in making Holiday Helpings possible! The demand for services has increased significantly due to the pandemic this year, with, many families struggling to find access to food, health care, and a consistent income. This has changed how Holiday Helpings is operating this year, but thankfully, not the energy of our community partners. We believe our job is to listen to the community and provide the tools necessary for people to make empowering life decisions, and Perkins Coie is happy Bread for the City is going above and beyond to help its community members this year for Holiday Helpings.

“Many families can’t have a traditional gathering because we are not encouraged to come together and this is also a desperate time. A lot of people are struggling and they may have a more pressing demand than a holiday meal,” said Friedman.

Bread for the City is extremely grateful for our longstanding partnership with Perkins Coie and that they cherish our Holiday Helpings program as much as we do. Currently, Perkins Coie is ranked #1 for Holiday Helpings team fundraising drives, with $39,141 raised for the program thus far, and we’re only halfway through our campaign!

If you or your company team is interested in helping us reach our impact goal of serving 15,000 families in Washington, DC this holiday season, create a fundraising drive today and share it with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, and more. Let’s do good, together.