For a second year, Haynes and Boone, LLP has won bragging rights in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Legal Cup Challenge and will proudly display the large cup trophy in its Dallas office.
Competing against several Dallas law firms, Haynes and Boone came out ahead in fundraising efforts for the AHA’s 2018 Dallas Heart Walk campaign last month. The firm’s Dallas, Richardson, and Global Services Center (GSC) offices not only achieved their goal of collecting $35,000 through the campaign, but they exceeded that goal, said Susan Wetzel, chair of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Group and the firm’s 2018 Heart Walk campaign chair.
Representatives from the AHA and Thompson & Knight LLP (the firm’s main Legal Cup competitor) presented the trophy to Wetzel at a ceremony last week.
“Your participation made it a lot more fun, and we appreciate the opportunity to compete against you and hope you will do it again next year,” Wetzel told Thompson & Knight lawyers.
Haynes and Boone’s month-long campaign involved a kickoff breakfast, T-shirts designed in-house, bake sales, breakfasts and other fundraisers such as “Jeans Days” and Friday afternoon beverage/snack cart collections in the Dallas office.
“It was the willingness of our employees to give their time to help promote the campaign, sell Jeans Day stickers, and push the beverage/snack carts that allowed us to generate excitement and reach our goal,” Wetzel said. “I am thankful to everyone who supported our 2018 Heart Walk efforts, including the members of our Haynes and Boone team who braved the rainy weather to walk in the Heart Walk.”
More than 35,000 people descended upon Reunion Tower for the morning walk, wearing a sea of colorful T-shirts representing their company teams. About 30 eager walkers participated with the Haynes and Boone team.
Wetzel said she has been involved with the AHA for more than a decade and continues to get more engaged in the organization because heart disease hits close to home.
“For me personally, it’s been a mission because heart disease is in my family,” she said, noting that both of her grandfathers died from heart problems. “It touches so many of our lives and is one of the most-preventable diseases. What the Association does is so important.”