Pond Lehocky Stern
Giordano spread holiday cheer over 25 days in December by contributing to local
and national charities selected by the Firm’s clients, partners, attorneys and
staff.
This year, Pond Lehocky is also holding its first ever 25 Days
of Giving Giveaway with one lucky person receiving two tickets to a
Philadelphia professional sporting event. You are invited to join but time is running
out!
To enter, go to the Firm’s website at pondlehocky.com and
submit your email address. Entries must be submitted by Jan. 14.
December marked the Pond Lehocky’s second annual 25 Days of
Giving. Throughout the month, the Firm’s partners, attorneys and staff made
donations, held fundraisers, created cards and care packages, held special
holiday events and volunteered in the community.
Here is a recap of each day’s
activities:
Day
2: Eight staff members volunteered
as course monitors for the Jingle All the Way 3K, a fundraising event to
benefit the Special Olympics, which
provides sports training and athletic competition to children and adults with
intellectual disabilities.
Day
3: Staff members made handmade cards for sick children across the nation, to be
distributed by Cards for Hospitalized
Kids.
Day
4: Staff collected and donated gently used shoes for Back on My Feet, an organization that uses running to combat
homelessness. For every pound of shoes received, 50 cents goes to the cause.
Day
5: A group of 11 staffers served dinner to residents at the Women of Change
safe haven shelter run by Project HOME,
a Philadelphia-based organization that helps adults, children and families
break the cycle of homelessness.
Day
6: Pond Lehocky donated a care package to a foster child at a local college
through ChildPromise Inc.’s Share the Care program. ChildPromise supports housing and
educational services for foster children.
Day
7: The Firm ran a pet toy drive for the Northeast Philadelphia chapter of the Pennsylvania SPCA, a 100-percent donor
funded animal rescue center with multiple locations throughout the state. The
staff also got to meet two of the dogs currently up for adoption.
Day
8: Pond Lehocky made a donation to Omega
Horse Rescue & Rehabilitation Center, a local organization that
educates people about equine care, legislates for humane treatment of horses
and finds homes for horses in need.
Day
9: The Firm donated to the Alzheimer’s
Association, a national organization supporting research, care and advocacy
for those affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Day
10: Firm staff contributed to Susan B.
Komen’s Pretty in Pink Piglets fundraiser campaign, holding a contest where
departments try to raise the most funds by depositing donations into their
“piglet” banks. The donations are to be used to support breast cancer research.
Day
11: Pond Lehocky staff partnered with WePAC,
the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children, helping shelve and catalog books
at the W.C. Longstreth Elementary School library, which will open in January.
WePAC promotes childhood literacy by engaging volunteers to reopen and staff
libraries and promote academic mentoring.
Day
12: Pond Lehocky held a holiday party for residents at Families Forward Philadelphia, which runs the city’s largest private
emergency shelter for homeless families and provides transitional and permanent
housing to those in need. Their mission is to help homeless families become
healthy, productive and self-reliant. Firm staff decorated gingerbread
houses with the families and enjoyed pizza and holiday treats. Surprise guests Philadelphia
Eagles punter Cameron Johnston and Eagles mascot SWOOP helped pass out gifts to
the kids.
Day
13: The Firm partnered with Operation
Gratitude, a national organization supporting U.S. Military and First
Responder communities by sending care packages and letters to deployed soldiers
and their children at home. Staff members made cards and wrote letters to our
troops.
Day
14: Pond Lehocky made a donation to the Lupus
Foundation of America, the only national organization devoted to solving
the mystery of lupus.
Day
15: The Firm donated to the Leukemia
& Lymphoma Society, the world’s largest organization that supports
research and advocacy for blood cancer treatment. The donations fund further
research to find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.
Day
16: The Firm donated money to the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation, which leads the fight against Type I diabetes
through funding research, advocacy and accelerating access to therapies.
Day
17: Pond Lehocky partnered with Orthopedics
at Nemours, one of the largest and most widely respected pediatric
orthopedics practices in the United States. Staff delivered toys to be
handed out to children.
Day 18: Firm
staffers donated gloves and bought coffee and donuts to Rock Ministries of Philadelphia. Rock Ministries
is a faith-based boxing and mentorship program in Kensington, Philadelphia. It
serves over 5,000 kids through sports, arts, music, mentoring and Bible
studies, and providing food to the needy in the community.
Day 19: The Firm held a book drive, donating them to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Reach
Out and Read, a program to give children a foundation for success by
incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud
together.
Day 20: Pond Lehocky brought cookies to spread
cheer to the more than 300 residents at Sidney
Hillman Apartments, a subsidized assisted living community for older and
disabled adults in Philadelphia.
Day 21: The Firm held a bake sale to raise money for No Kid Hungry, a national organization
helping to fight childhood hunger and teaching kids and their families to cook
healthy, affordable meals. Staff members baked cookies, cupcakes and other
goodies to sell, with the Firm making a matching gift.
Day 22: The Firm donated to Team Foster, an organization founded by Pond Lehocky Associate Nick
Liermann that raises money to partner service dogs with veterans suffering from
combat-related disabilities including PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
Day 23: The Firm made a donation to the National Stroke Association, a national
organization devoted to reducing the incidence and impact of strokes.
Day 24: The Firm donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the world’s
leading organization in searching for a cure from cystic fibrosis.
Day 25: Pond Lehocky partnered with the Salvation Army’s “Angel Tree” program.
The Salvation Army is the nation’s largest faith-based charity serving 30+
million Americans every year through service-based programs. The “Angel Tree”
program provides holiday gifts to children in need. Each of Pond Lehocky’s five
partners sponsored a child, purchasing a toy on each child’s Christmas list.
