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Sharing a culture of caring, TECO and Holland & Knight visit Metropolitan Ministries

Stephanie Sarro helps organize items for the clothing store at Metropolitan Ministries' Tampa Heights campus.
Stephanie helps organize items for the clothing store at Metropolitan Ministries’ Tampa Heights campus.

When TECO team members partnered with their fellow Knights of shining stewardship – Holland & Knight Law Firm, with whom we share a founder in Peter O. KnightMetropolitan Ministries was the destination and sharing time to help the community was the order of the day.

And the verdict: it was a big success.

TECO team members have a longstanding history of working with the nonprofit charity, including a recent donation drive to ensure that underprivileged children had school supplies to start the academic year. A few short weeks later, on Sept. 9, other team members were back in partnership with Holland & Knight – which serves as an outside legal counsel for TECO – to make the annual Day of Caring a day to make a difference for those in need as the nation remembered those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

“We have partnered with one of our outside legal counsel on this project for the past few years,” said David Nicholson, vice president of Legal Services & General Counsel. “Our team always looks forward to the opportunity to work together to help make our community a more caring place and doing it in conjunction with 9/11 makes it even more special.”

...and Ellen is right there with her.
…and Ellen is right there with her.

From TECO, 13 team members from the Legal Services, Corporate Secretary, Claims Management and Corporate Ethics & Compliance departments participated. They and their partners in the effort from Holland & Knight helped organize donated items in the Metropolitan Ministries clothing warehouse, in its thrift store and elsewhere.

Olivia Hoch, public relations manager with Holland & Knight, echoed Nicholson in recognizing the importance of the Day of Caring. Jay Winuk – brother of Glenn Winuk, a Holland & Knight partner and volunteer EMT – lost his life on 9/11 after he exited Holland & Knight’s New York office to rescue others.

“The National Day of Service commemorates and remembers the heroes and victims of 9/11 by promoting service throughout the United States to improve the lives of others,” Hoch said.  “Holland & Knight, which has 24 U.S. offices and more than 2,000 employees, fully supports the initiative and strives for 100 percent participation.”

Diana Nuñez, manager of Claims & Litigation with TECO, took photos for this article.

“We plan to be back at it next year, and we’re going to keep working to be a positive force in the community because that’s part of our company culture,” Nuñez said. “It’s a culture we’re proud to share with Holland & Knight.”

Volunteers pose for a photo at Metropolitan Ministries.
Volunteers pose for a photo at Metropolitan Ministries.

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