MVA & Piedmont Natural Gas Observe Bar Association Legal Feeding Frenzy at Second Harvest

Volunteers from Piedmont Natural Gas’ legal department and attorneys from Moore & Van Allen PLLC (MVA) joined forces at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina’s (SHFBM) warehouse on March 18, to fill over 800 backpacks with food for hunger-risk children.

The 20 volunteers packed backpacks with nutritious, ready-to-eat or easily prepared foods in support of Second Harvest’s Backpack Program.  The backpacks will be delivered to local schools to be sent home with children whom teachers have identified as being high risk for hunger.

A portion of the filled packs were earmarked for delivery to Devonshire Elementary School, where Piedmont and MVA have funded an affiliate backpack program.  Their effort is only one of the many initiatives that has taken place within the state’s legal community this month, due in part to the North Carolina Bar Association’s 2015 Legal Feeding Frenzy challenge.

SHFBM Food Sourcing Manager David Brown kicked off the event by welcoming and thanking the group, and shared facts about the impact of hunger locally.  Currently, 18.4% of Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina’s service area population lives in poverty, including almost 221,000 children and seniors.

The Legal Feeding Frenzy, launched in 2013 by the Office of the Attorney General, the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association, and the North Carolina Association of Food Banks, is a three-week food and fund drive competition among the state’s law firms and organizations.  The 2015 competition commenced on March 9 under the direction of MVA Estate & Wealth Planning Counsel, Wilson Loftis, who is currently serving as the Frenzy’s statewide program chair.  All proceeds and donations benefit North Carolina’s Feeding America Food Banks.