The Holland & Hart Foundation launched in 1998 and was co-founded by now-retired partner Sam Guyton and his wife Jean Guyton.
“We’ve always been interested in creating community,” said Jean Guyton.
When deciding to retire, they spoke with the staff and attorneys at the firm where Jean Guyton was “struck strongly about the difference in lives of these two groups.”
Sam Guyton recollects his wife asking him “Remember when we were in the firm and we knew all the lawyers, their wives, their children, all that?”
“We don’t have that anymore,” Sam Guyton responded.
Wanting to bond with their colleagues and serve their community, the Guytons created this 501(c)(3) organization to bridge the gap between these groups and the broader community.
“We started off fairly strong by going out in the community and finding out what the needs were,” noted Jean Guyton.
Sam Guyton recalls in the early years when he and his wife would visit the firm’s various offices across the U.S. to get to know each person, talk to them about their lives and ask them what kind of projects they’d like to work on.
“What is the number one need in your community?” the Guytons would inquire.
An example of this was when the two visited the firm’s Jackson Hole office. They discovered the community needed a safe house for women, and the foundation found a way to build one to support them.
Efforts like these continued to help carry out the firm’s long tradition of community service, volunteerism and building community.
“From the outset, Holland & Hart’s leaders enthusiastically embraced Sam and Jean’s vision. It is truly a unique aspect of the firm’s culture and an expression of the firm’s commitment of service and giving back to the communities where we work and live,” wrote Chris Balch, Holland & Hart Firm chair and Holland & Hart Foundation board member, to Law Week via email.
Balch has served on the Holland & Hart Foundation board for 15 years and knows first-hand the valuable impacts the firm’s footprint has made on people over the last 25 years.
“25 years is a significant milestone for the foundation. The positive impact of the foundation is because individuals and organizations have worked together to meet the needs of people in our local communities,” added the Guytons.
To commemorate the foundation’s 25th anniversary, each of the firm’s 13 offices chose a service activity supporting a local community organization.
The office in Aspen partnered with The Buddy Program. Volunteers decorated and supplied frosting cans to be included in Gingerbread House Workshop kits for their annual event.
In Boulder, they supported Community Food Share by sorting and packing food for distribution and hosted a fund and food drive. The office donated 40 pounds of food and raised more than $2,370 to help provide meals for those in need.
The Denver office supported the Susan G. Komen 2023 Colorado More Than Pink Walk which fights against cancer in Colorado. Volunteers assisted with several activities including registration, assisting along the route and helping with set up and clean up.
The other offices that participated were Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Washington, D.C.
Through the foundation, 15,826 volunteers across the firm’s offices have worked on 1,391 projects that served or impacted an estimated 269,065 people since 2014.
“I am deeply proud of the magnificent efforts of every current and former foundation member for their generosity, time and energy. The foundation has and will continue for decades in the future, to serve as the ‘heart’ of the firm,” added Balch.
For its impact and heart, the foundation has taken home many volunteer and philanthropy awards recognizing its accomplishments and engagement in the community: the Legal Marketing Association’s “Your Honor Awards” (2005); the Walk to End Alzheimer Corporate Award (2007); the Rebuilding Together Metro Denver Community Impact Award (2008); as well as the Metro Volunteer’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the United Way Community Champion Award from United Way of Salt Lake (2014).
Jean Guyton is particularly proud of the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement Award the foundation was awarded in 2009.
“It was a very proud moment for us,” recalled Jean Guyton. “Not only because Sam had lived through this kind of thing in Mississippi, but also because my mother was really adamant about helping people, especially integrating people as much as possible.”
The Guytons have many projects and initiatives they are proud of and that stand out in the foundation’s history.
“One of my favorite all-time projects was a group of seniors who knew that there was a vacant lot across from their retirement place,” recalled Jean Guyton, “and they said, ‘oh, you know what we would love to have is a garden, but this is a vacant lot.'”
At the beginning of the day, there was just a vacant lot. But by the end of the day, thanks to the foundation and its volunteers, the lot was full of raised garden beds with an archway to get in the entry and plants all around the outside.
“All this happened while the seniors in their wheelchairs across the street [were] either clapping or crying,” continued Jean Guyton. “We went a few months later, and the seniors had wheeled themselves across the street and planted all those raised beds with flowers.”
Another one of her favorite projects was when the foundation supported an elderly woman who needed her house updated and a ramp added for wheelchair access.
While on-site, when the volunteers were painting the walls, Jean Guyton fondly remembers the discussion and comradery between the attorneys and the staff who were there.
“[It] was something I will never forget,” added Jean Guyton.
An interaction Sam Guyton will never forget was with a woman living in a shelter. She told him she hoped that in turn, she’d be able to help others at this same shelter someday.
“And sure enough she did,” said Sam Guyton. “The next year she’d gotten out and she had become independent and was able to take care of herself.”
“It still brings tears to my eyes,” noted Sam Guyton.
From providing schools with supplies to raising awareness for cancer health or creating gathering places for seniors, the Guytons’ work remains rooted in family and acceptance.
But they also stress the importance of connectedness.
“You begin to see your family is the world [and] we’re all connected,” added Sam Guyton.
“The Guytons are true role models and ambassadors of the value of service and community. Their boundless passion and energy continue to inspire members of the firm to appreciate the impacts that small acts of kindness and paying it forward have on the people in our communities,” noted Balch.
When the Guytons think about how the foundation’s mission will continue to support and encourage connectedness for the next 25 years, they can both say with confidence communities will continue to be supported and opportunities will be expanded for people in need.
The foundation’s primary goal for 2023-2024 is to elevate awareness of its mission and instill a renewed appreciation of the value of giving back to members of the firm, particularly new members of the firm, explained the Guytons.
The foundation and its local office committee chairs will focus on encouraging new members of the firm to get involved with the foundation. “We always want people to be involved,” noted Jean Guyton.
In 2023, four office committees have a new chair or co-chair. In the last few years, the firm has grown and brought on new lawyers and business professionals in almost every office.
A new quarterly foundation newsletter is being planned to increase communication and awareness of volunteer opportunities.
To learn more about the impact of the Holland & Hart Foundation, view its 2022 Annual Report. The foundation’s 2023 Annual Report will be published by the end of the foundation’s first quarter this year.
CORRECTION NOTE: This article was updated Jan. 5 to note in a photo caption that the Guytons accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from Metro Volunteers in 2014.