(Photo: Wikimedia)

Tuesday night organizers of the Georgia Legal Food Frenzy urged for more participation from in-house legal departments, and on Wednesday they got their wish from the Georgia Tech Office of Legal Affairs.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Tech team, captained by Susann D. Estroff and Kate Wasch, had scooped up $11,430—more than double the No. 2 contender in the race to support the Atlanta Community Food Bank. The competition extends around the state, with law firms and legal organizations raising funds for seven other regional food banks around Georgia.

On Tuesday night, team captains gathered at King & Spalding to celebrate the launch of the annual fundraiser. Kyle Waide, the president and CEO of the Atlanta food bank, noted that the nation's high-performing economy ”has not translated to everyone.” The food bank says 819,000 people—most of whom have jobs but not enough money to pay for everything they need— in the 29 counties surrounding Atlanta are “food insecure,” meaning they don't know when they'll eat next.

Lesley Wainwright, senior vice president and associate general counsel at Turner Broadcasting and a recent Atlanta Food Bank board member, told the group that in-house lawyers are sometimes harder to reach but she hoped they'd participate more in the Legal Food Frenzy. “Reach out to your clients,” she urged captains at law firms.

By late Wednesday afternoon, the Atlanta campaign had raised $60,398, or about 20 percent of its $300,000 goal. Attorney General Chris Carr—who sponsors the event along with the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia and the Georgia Food Banks Association—has asked lawyers to consider donating the cost of one billable hour.

The other top teams (and their captains) in the Atlanta campaign were: Joe S. Habachy PC (Joe Habachy), $5,355; Alston & Bird (Cheryl Naja), $3,830; King & Spalding (no captain listed), $2,375; Arnall Golden Gregory (Winifred Rice), $2,290; McGuireWoods (Elizabeth Arnettt Buckley), $2,145; Baker & Hostetler (Emily Spiller), $1,925; Paul Hastings (Sara Weed), $1,725; Squire Patton Boggs (Deborah Lempogo), $1,700; and Dentons US (Suneet Sidhu), $1,550.