– Photo by John Meiu
Throughout the year, the Butzel Long Women’s Leadership Committee looks for ways to make a difference in the communities where firm attorneys live and work.
Recently, committee members learned about the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Professional Nurse Council Cereal Drive, an annual event that supplies Gleaners Food Bank with cereal to distribute to school children during the summer.
Angele Emmerling Goufford, Butzel Long senior attorney, said members of the group approached those involved in the initiative and asked how Butzel Long could become involved.
“They were very excited and put us in touch with Gleaners Food Bank,” said Boufford, who co-chaired the project along with attorney Debra Gerous.
“Gleaners invited us to tour their warehouse where we learned more about how important the Cereal Drive is to children who rely on free or reduced-cost meals during the school year, but who may go hungry during the summer months,” she said. “We then reached out to the rest of the firm, vendors, clients and friends to let them know that Butzel Long was going to run its
own Cereal Drive to contribute to the Children’s Hospital event. The response from everyone was incredible.”
Gleaners challenged the Butzel Long Women’s Committee to raise 5,000 servings of cereal, a goal the committee more than quadrupled by collecting 24,270 servings of cereal.
Four-thousand of those servings came from an elementary school in Wixom where Geroux’s daughter is a student.
“I was so impressed by the Cereal Drive that I shared the idea with my fellow PTA executive board members and they wanted to join the effort,” said Geroux. “Paying it forward and giving back to the community is important.”
This year, Children’s Hospital of Michigan collected 400,000 servings of cereal, including the contribution from Butzel Long.
Moreover, Children’s Hospital of Michigan challenged other hospitals across the country to conduct a similar initiative in their communities.
As a result, one million servings of cereal were collected nationally.
“Cereal is one of the most expensive items for food banks to purchase for distribution, and also one of the most needed items,” Boufford said. “The Cereal Drive reinforces the importance of nutrition for children for their overall growth and development.”
By the third grade, she said. hungre children have lower reading and math scores “than their non-hungry peers.
“Children’s Hospital of Michigan and Gleaners Food Bank are to be applauded for all they do to make an important difference in our communities,” Boufford said. “Partnering with them for this event was an honor.”
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