Heyl Royster finishes first in ISBA's 'Lawyers Feeding Illinois' competition

By raising more than $12,800 and 2,547 pounds of food items, the firm Heyl Royster finished first in its category in the Illinois State Bar Association’s (ISBA) recent "Lawyers Feeding Illinois” food and fundraising drive and competition.

Heyl Royster, which has six offices in Illinois - including Edwardsville,  will be honored at an awards ceremony on May 8 at the ISBA’s Chicago regional office. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose office supported the campaign, will speak at the awards ceremony.

The firm competed in the “Mega Law Firm” category, which was made up of law firms with more than 100 lawyers.

Lawyers Feeding Illinois, an initiative of the ISBA and its president, Urbana attorney John E. Thies, raised more than 1.27 million meals in a statewide campaign held between Feb. 18 – March 1. The campaign was conducted in cooperation with "Feeding Illinois," and all donated food and money benefited eight regional food banks serving Illinois.

Lawyers Feeding Illinois was chaired by Thies’ wife, Terry.

The effort was also supported by Illinois judges, who placed collection containers for non-perishable food items in courthouses in all parts of the state. Additional financial support for the project came from Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, ISBA Mutual Insurance Company and the Lake County Bar Association. Numerous local, ethnic and specialty bar associations also participated.

Feeding Illinois is a coalition of eight Feeding America food banks providing food to 1,885 agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters that feed 1.4 million residents across the state. The organization is committed to educating people about the role of food banks in addressing hunger and raising awareness of the need to devote more resources and attention to hunger issues. Feeding Illinois is made up of Central Illinois Foodbank, Eastern Illinois Foodbank, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Northern Illinois Food Bank, the Peoria Area Food Bank, River Bend Foodbank, St. Louis Area Foodbank and Tri-State Foodbank.