On Saturday April 16th, Lawyers Fighting Hunger hosted their 13th annual Easter food event. Lawyers Fighting Hunger is a 501c3 non-profit founded by Sherwood McCormick & Robert’s very own Hugh Robert. Lawyers Fighting Hunger provides all the items necessary to make an Easter meal to local families in need. They do this by both raising the funds to purchase these items AND providing the volunteers to organize these donations and get them to local charities for distribution.
Lawyers Fighting Hunger fills a gap that is often left in the community. While Tulsa has food kitchens such as Iron Gate to provide a hot meal 365 days a year, and Tulsa has food pantries that provide groceries to those in need, it can be difficult for families to find the items necessary to make a special holiday meal. Many food kitchens provide individual hot meals, but don’t have the resources necessary to provide family style meals for the holidays. Likewise, food pantry’s in the area often lack the resources necessary to provide fresh meat and vegetables, often opting for shelf stable items such as canned and boxed foods. This is where Lawyers Fighting Hunger comes in. Lawyers Fighting Hunger helps provide the items that are rarely found in food pantries, such as a whole turkey or whole ham and fresh potatoes. These items make it possible for Tulsa families to cook a special holiday meal.
Lawyers Fighting Hunger not only provides hams each Easter, but also provides turkey dinners for Thanksgiving. In fact, Lawyers Fighting Hunger started when Hugh Robert noticed the lack of organizations that provide food to families during Thanksgiving. This led him to pair up with other individuals in the legal community to raise funds and provide whole turkeys and all of the sides to local families so they could have a special Thanksgiving meal. As the need grew, so did Lawyers Fighting Hunger. It has expanded to include Easter meals, and this year over 1,000 hams and all the fixings were provided to local families. We are happy to provide a complete Easter ham meal to those in need,” Lawyers Fighting Hunger Founder Hugh Robert said. “We know the need is great and we are glad to provide the funds and volunteers to make it a reality.”
You can typically find Lawyers Fighting Hunger working outside of Irongate one Saturday around the holidays. This year, rain necessitated a move indoors, but didn’t stop the volunteers from coming out to fill bags. Dozens of local lawyers and judges came to help fill bags with food and ensure they were transported to local agencies for delivery to families in need.
Stations were created that included various food items, such as cake mixes, corn, green beans, soup mixes, and the always coveted hams. Volunteers were set at each station, and a line of volunteers formed to pick up a bag and walk through the station, filling the bags with everything you could need for the perfect Easter meal.
Once the bags were filled, they were dispersed to local charities, who got them into the hands of Tulsa residents. These agencies include: Women in Recovery, Women’s Justice Team, Domestic Violence Intervention Services, Dayspring Community Services, Parkview Terrace, Life Senior Services, Youth Services of Tulsa, Arubah Community Clinic, Emergency Infant Services, Parkside Hospital & Clinic, Veteran’s Administration, CURA, EduRec, and the Tulsa Health Department. Once the bags arrive at these local charities, the individual charities ensure they get to local families in need of supplies for an Easter dinner.
Feeding America projects 1 in 5 Oklahomans do not have enough to eat. Lawyers Fighting Hunger prevented that statistic from being a reality this Easter for over 1,000 families.
