Members of the Haynes and Boone, LLP Women’s Committee recently provided Christmas gift bags to clients of The Women’s Home, a Houston-area nonprofit that serves women who have experienced homelessness.
The firm’s lawyers provided each woman with her own holiday gift bag, each containing 20 items of toiletries, beauty products and other treats and necessities, as well as a piece of jewelry.
To stock the bags, women in the firm’s Houston and New York offices contributed cash and gently used jewelry. The firm also contributed additional funds. The project was done in collaboration with Obsidian Beauty Supply, which generously supported the initiative by providing several beauty product samples.
“Our goal was to provide each resident with her own goody bag so that the women could pamper themselves a little during the holidays,” explained Associate Kim Mai, who led the project. “The response was wonderful as nearly every woman attorney either donated jewelry or cash.”
Mai shared the genesis of the project: “In light of the divisiveness that followed the presidential election, we were motivated to make a positive impact in our community. Regardless of politics, I knew from past experience that community and charity have always united Haynes and Boone attorneys.”
The result was an office-wide effort to assist the women at The Women’s Home. Executive Committee member Lynne Liberato helped plan and implement the details of the event, and Associate Valisa Berber-Thayer and firm alumna Theresa Einhorn each dedicated an enormous amount of time to purchase the gifts for each bag, while Associate Deborah Low generously contributed to the cause all the way from New York.
Houston recruiting team staffers McKenna Aaron, Jessica Evans and Amy Fry also did a fantastic job of helping to organize the gift bag assembly and delivery.
For almost 60 years, The Women’s Home has achieved its mission of helping women in crisis “regain their self-esteem and dignity, empowering them to return to society as productive, self-sufficient individuals” by providing shelter, treatment programs and general assistance to women—many of whom are homeless and lack job skills or education due to substance abuse and mental illness—and their families. The Women’s Home is a recognized model of excellence in long-term residential rehabilitation and is one of only five programs for women in the region approved by the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. Learn more about the organization on their website.