Our Quarles Cares Initiative

At Quarles & Brady LLP, we actively engage in civic and charitable initiatives. We believe it’s important for our lawyers and staff to give back to our communities and help make them stronger. Furthermore, we find it essential to connect directly with those communities in order to fully understand and better address their needs. Quarles Cares is a firmwide volunteer initiative that encourages our attorneys and staff to commit themselves personally to civic and charitable efforts. Our primary areas of emphasis are projects that relate to hunger and education, but whatever the cause, the focus of this program is hands-on volunteerism.

Quarles Cares is a wonderful vehicle for encouraging our attorneys and staff to remain in touch with the world around them and, hopefully, make our communities better and brighter places to live. Quarles Cares is also a great internal team builder because it allows us opportunities to work with Quarles personnel whom we might not see in the course of our daily routines, and we are able to celebrate one another's skills and strengths.

How We Serve Our Communities, Office by Office

Chicago, Illinois
Our Chicago Office attorneys and staff partner with Foundations Elementary School, a public educational institution serving low-income students. Volunteers from Quarles & Brady visit the school monthly to provide the students with educational and artistic opportunities. Our partnership with Foundations began with one grade in the 2006–2007 school year and expanded to three grades in 2007–2008, serving over 40 students. We are planning a 2009-2010 school year expansion of duties with third grade Foundations students by sponsoring an initiative to supply more classroom supplies in conjunction with the school's book drive program.

During our monthly visits, we read with the children, provide art opportunities that the school is unable to offer, and we celebrate holidays through projects, games and food. In the 2007–2008 school year, Quarles & Brady provided Secret Santa gifts for each child and sponsored a library book drive in addition to our classroom visits. We continued the Secret Santa program during the 2008-2009 school year.

Over the past year, we focused our work with the Foundations school by assisting the students on art projects and improving their reading skills. We read to the students and donated books to the classrooms every other month. We continue to look for ways to grow and enhance our partnership with Foundations and to help fulfill the Foundations’ wish list.

In addition to our partnership with Foundations Elementary, through Quarles Cares, the Chicago office attorneys and staff participate in a number of community service events and fundraisers, including the following: 

• Fielding a team and raising funds for the annual Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk.
  
  
• Sponsoring and supplying volunteers for the City-wide Women Everywhere Service Project.
  
• Quarles & Brady participates annually in the Race Judicata event, benefiting the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services organization. This year, Quarles & Brady was well-represented at the Race on July 30, 2009 with 17 attendees who braved the threat of rain as well as the 3.1 mile course along the Chicago lakefront. 

Recently, Quarles Cares and the Diversity Committee sponsored a visit to the Chicago office by local public high school students participating in the Loyola Law Academy. Over 50 students toured the offices, received a presentation from a panel of Chicago associates and participated in a legal exercise.

The Chicago office plans to expand its community service efforts, which will include working with the Night Ministry, a nondenominational organization that provides health care, housing and educational services as well as meals to homeless and at-risk people throughout Chicago. We will continue our community service with Night Ministry in 2009 by participating in two outings to help feed the homeless in Chicago.

Madison, Wisconsin
The Madison office continues its partnership with two classes at Hawthorne Elementary School. Eight attorneys and staff tutors go to the school on a weekly basis to work individually with the students. The partnership was initiated one year ago with the organization of a field trip to the State Capital with the students, which also included a visit to our office. This year, the students attended a mock trial, “B.B. Wolf v. The Three Little Pigs,” at the Dane County Court House, followed by a pizza lunch at our office. Attorneys and staff participated as the cast of characters and 12 students were picked as jurors. A good time was had by all.

The Madison office also sends volunteers to the Second Harvest Foodbank facility to stock shelves on a monthly basis, and during the holidays, we participate in the annual Second Harvest Holiday Foodbank Food Drive.

The Madison office has been, and continues to be, very active in the community in other ways as well. The attorneys and staff work with the Dane County Boys and Girls Club, conducting mock interviews and serving as volunteer participants and coaches in preparation for the “Youth of the Year” state competition. For the past 11 years, the Madison office has sponsored, and attorneys and staff have participated as a team in, the Madison Komen Race for the Cure, and also in the Second Annual Light the Town Passionately Pink for the Cure. The office also takes part in the following charitable events and volunteer opportunities: planting and completing various service projects around Dane County for United Way Days of Caring; participating as a team to raise money through fundraisers and donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk; participating as a team to raise money through fundraisers and donations for the American Heart Association; and fundraising for MS Society. In addition, the office assists the United Way Campaign of Dane County in reaching its goal to support the Agenda For Change of $16,650,000 through employee pledges and participates in the Holiday Teen Gift Drive, in cooperation with United Way, along with the Marines Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army and others, to provide food and gifts for children and teenagers.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
We are a proud partner of Golda Meir Elementary School. In addition to providing a graduation celebration each year, our attorneys and staff facilitate and judge Golda Meir’s annual Invention Convention, in which students design and build their very own inventions.

In addition, the Milwaukee office continues to participate in a variety of civic initiatives, including the Open Door Ministry Program at The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist and The Interchange Food Pantry, both of which are located in Downtown Milwaukee. As weekly volunteers at the Open Door Ministry, we serve lunch to people in need of a nutritious meal. We also donate toiletries, clothing and other personal necessities to assist those who are unable to afford these fundamental items. The Interchange Food Pantry provides assistance to those in need, and we volunteer on a monthly basis to help sort, bag and distribute the food. The Milwaukee office also participated in the 2007 Hunger Task Force “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive by helping to sort and pack over 28,000 pounds of food.

The Milwaukee office has also collected books and school supplies for area schools, and toys to be distributed as part of the Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign. In addition to these initiatives, the Milwaukee office participated in the Family to Family Thanksgiving Food Drive, providing complete Thanksgiving dinners to 344 area families. We also collected professional clothing for the Bottomless Closet, an organization devoted to providing women with clothing that will enable them to more effectively seek and retain rewarding jobs. Over 30 Milwaukee office attorneys and staff participated in the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure, raising over $7,000 for breast cancer research.

In 2007, the Milwaukee office raised $429,316 for the Greater Milwaukee United Way Campaign. One hundred thirty-one partners and retired partners, 35 associates and 10 legal assistants contributed to these results, and we had a total of 101 Leadership Givers who pledged $1,200 or more, including 16 who pledged at the “Tocqueville” level of $10,000 or more.

Naples, Florida
We have “adopted” a third-grade class at Golden Terrace Elementary School, where attorneys and staff members volunteer their time both in and out of the classroom. The program has several components, including quarterly events at the school that give the students a chance to interact with the volunteers, trips to a local bookstore to honor exceptional readers, a year-end book drive, and activities to complement the teacher's reading program such as recording books on tape and reading to the class.

The Naples office is also involved in an annual Habitat for Humanity community build day in nearby Immokalee, a holiday food drive to benefit St. Matthew’s House, initiatives to support local soldiers fighting overseas, and local fundraising events for the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society. Beyond the Quarles Cares initiatives, many individual members of the Naples office generously give of their time and talents to the local community: Our attorneys sit on various boards, including the Collier County YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, the Immokalee Friendship House, the Boys and Girls Club of Collier County, and Camp Boggy Creek. (Camp Boggy Creek is a Hole in the Wall camp, enriching the lives of children who have chronic or life-threatening illnesses, with founders who include Paul Newman and retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf.)

In 2009, the Naples office participated in the Collier County American Heart Association’s Annual Heart Walk. We raised approximately $2,800 for the American Heart Association by sponsoring several book sales, hosting casual jean days throughout the year and by individual donations. Our attorneys and staff are pleased that during such difficult times our employees came through for the AHA.

Phoenix, Arizona
Quarles Cares — Phoenix coordinates a variety of ongoing, annual, and one-time events as part of our mission to provide volunteer experiences that have wide appeal to our staff and attorneys, and a wide reach across the Phoenix community.

One of our most successful efforts is our longstanding partnership with Capitol Elementary School, a school that serves some of the Phoenix’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Our involvement began in 1993, and since then more than 125 members of our office have been participating each year. Our dedicated volunteers log approximately 2,000 hours of service each year — a record that we are extremely proud of but which is vastly exceeded by our pride in the accomplishments of the students we serve.

We are also a founding charter member of the St. Vincent de Paul Corporate Breakfast Club. Each month, volunteers go to the breakfast kitchen and food preparation facility to help feed the homeless and hungry. Last summer, St. Vincent de Paul informed us of an extreme water shortage in Phoenix and the devastating effect of the extremely high summer temperatures on the homeless population in Arizona. Quarles Cares and the partners in the Phoenix office responded by donating enough money for the immediate purchase of more than 1,500 cases of bottled water.

Our community service initiatives don't stop there, though. In June 2008, our volunteers raised more than $3,800 as part of the Red Cross relief effort for Iowa tornado victims. In November 2008, we helped St. Vincent de Paul collect turkeys for needy valley families during St. Vincent’s annual Turkey Tuesday. Through cash donations and the efforts of Quarles & Brady volunteers, we were able to raise funds to donate countless turkeys in support of Turkey Tuesday. Shortly thereafter, in December 2008, we collected more than 300 stuffed animals for Bears for the Brave, a charity founded in 1986 by the Phoenix Police Department, Crimes Against Children Unit, to offer comfort to frightened children who are removed from abusive environments. And, in February 2009, we participated in our third annual Hearts Against Hunger in-service volunteer day at St. Mary’s Food Bank, one of the world’s largest food banks. Through food and cash donations and the efforts of more than 75 Quarles & Brady volunteers, we donated more than 330 pounds of food, created more than $1,400 boxed meals, and bagged 7,500 pounds of produce for hungry people across the state.

Our ongoing projects include blood drives every three months for United Blood Services and Project Linus, a national organization that provides blankets and afghans to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise. A group of volunteers crochet and knit blankets in their free time and donate them to Project Linus. To date, 40 blankets have been completed. Our attorneys and staff also support the annual Book Drive to benefit St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center’s Pediatric Ambulatory Care Center (PACC) and the Sun City Libraries. PACC is an outpatient clinic that provides health care to underprivileged children ranging from six months old to teenagers. In 2008, Quarles Cares volunteers donated more than 750 books to PACC and Sun City Libraries.

This year’s United Way campaign was a huge success. During Summer 2008, we raised over $54,000 through pledges, casual days and snack carts. As part of the campaign, the United Way committee chose a partnership agency of the United Way to support as a Quarles Cares project: the West Valley Child Crisis Center. We collected badly needed supplies for the center, which provides temporary shelter and supervision for children who are victims of, or at risk of, abuse, neglect or abandonment. Our summer associates participated in the drive by delivering the donations and sponsoring a pizza party for the children, where they played games and had a water slide for the kids. We collected over $1,500 dollars to purchase supplies, including a badly needed digital camera.

Tucson, Arizona
The spirit of the Old Pueblo is alive and well in the Tucson office with a strong emphasis on community involvement and caring for those in need.

For the past two years, the Tucson office has proudly supported the Carrillo Intermediate Magnet School Reading Program. Carrillo is an elementary “magnet” school located in Downtown Tucson. A group of attorneys and staff rotate on a bi-weekly basis and provide reading instruction to the second and third grades. A celebration is held at the end of each school year for the children in the program recognizing their accomplishments and providing a new personal reading book for each child. The reaction from each child has been overwhelming.

The Tucson Office has also supported the local Community Food Bank for the past ten years. Eleven volunteers participated in the 2008 Community Food Bank event by packing 160 grocery bags and 279 emergency food boxes in less than four hours, generating over 7,000 pounds of food for distribution to local families in need.

For the third consecutive year, a Quarles & Brady team walked in the 2008 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The Q&B team was proud to finish in 10th place in Top Teams with a total of $2,255.00 raised, which was an increase from the $1,870.00 in the prior year. The 2008 event raised a total of $120,497.83 in Tucson to help the fight against breast cancer.

For the past six years, the Firm has been supporting the Children’s Village Home, a state-licensed group home facility providing children and families a safe transition to a permanent home. In December 2008, the Quarles Cares team (including Santa Claus) hosted the annual gift and dinner event at Children’s Village. Forty crocheted beanies were given to the residents, children ranging in age from 18 months to 17 years. With 100 percent office participation from attorneys and staff, the event was a huge success resulting in a wonderful dinner with gifts for the children and a $1,200 contribution to the school to help fund summer camp programs. In 2009, our Project Linus volunteers created ten handmade quilts and six handmade afghans that were donated to the Children’s Village Home. Our volunteers continue to provide a weekly opportunity for participants to learn the basics of crocheting. To date, Project Linus also has made 31 sets of hats and scarves completed for donation at the annual party for the children on December 15th, 2009, with more in progress.

The office also supported the United Way Days of Caring. We adopted Christopher Columbus Park, sponsored by the Tucson Clean & Beautiful Program, and spent a few hours picking up litter to help keep the park clean and safe.