Houston Bar Foundation: The Foundation of Vital Community Programs
The Houston Bar Foundation (“HBF”) was established in 1982 as the charitable arm of the Houston Bar Association (“HBA”). At that time, the HBA had commissioned a long-range planning committee to consider what should be done to meet the challenges of the future.
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The mission of the HBF “has never been more important to our community as over the past year,” explains Susan L. Bickley, 2020 chair of the HBF, when “many Houstonians found themselves out of work, homeless, or trapped in painful or abusive relationships.” The community needs, according to Bickley, “only increased as the pandemic continued.” She describes how the HBF was able to continue providing a stable source of funding for all of these important programs.
“Never have I been so proud of lawyers in the Houston Bar as I have been this year. It was immensely gratifying to watch out Houston lawyers answer the call. Because of COVID-19, we were unable to hold our annual Harvest Celebration party, which is the central fundraising vehicle for HBF.” She noted how this, in turn, adversely impacted funds available for HVL and continued, “Against this backdrop, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our Houston legal community when—even without the Harvest party—the BHF 2020 Harvest Campaign raised a record amount to support Houston Volunteer Lawyers and pro bono legal services.”
To read the full article, please click here (pages 36-27).
“Houston Bar Foundation: The Foundation of Vital Community Programs,” by Natasha Breaux was published in the March/April 2021 edition of The Houston Lawyer, a publication of the Houston Bar Association.