D.C. Staff Donates Time to Hospitalized Children & Troops

When Washington, D.C. legal secretary Sheila Dobiliauskas approached us in 2010 about teaming up with her to work on a volunteer project, we jumped at the chance. Sheila is the coordinator for the Annapolis chapter of ConKerr Cancer, an organization that provides fun, bright pillowcases to hospitalized children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Sheila, along with other volunteers, sews pillowcases with her own materials and on her own time. Sheila brings them to the office where we host “pillowcase stuffing parties.” Volunteers fold, individually package, and categorize each pillowcase for delivery to pediatric units at Anne Arundel Medical Center, Holy Cross Hospital, and the Children’s Inn (at the National Institutes of Health.) To date, the D.C. office has hosted five pillowcase stuffing parties and held four “jeans day fundraisers” for the organization. 

Parlaying on the success of this now annual tradition, Sheila again came to us with another great project. While hosting a drive for personal care items for the organization Operation Gratitude, Sheila noticed that they were requesting “cool ties,” a hand-sewn device that provides cooling to troops in hot-weather climates. Sheila brought partially completed ties to the office, where a group of volunteers formed an assembly line to turn each tie right-side-out, press it, add filling, sew it shut, and individually package them for delivery. In the end, this collaboration resulted in 56 cool ties being delivered to our troops.

Sheila’s initiative and the generosity of our volunteers has allowed the D.C. office to not only contribute to great causes, but also shows how dedicated Winston & Strawn is in supporting the interests of its staff and their endeavors outside of work. 

Contributed by Stephanie Dixon, Employee Relations Manager