The Massachusetts Region’s Service to the Armed Forces staff and volunteers regularly reach out into the community to find partners to help fulfill the mission of assisting both active duty military members and veterans.

The Red Cross of Massachusetts found just such a partner in the financial services company William Blair.

As Veterans Day approaches, William Blair partnered with the Red Cross to assemble 250 comfort kits that will be distributed throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during November.

Through partnerships with the Departments of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, the Red Cross provides transition and reintegration support to wounded warriors, to veterans, and to their families.

Employees from the Boston office of William Blair dedicated a recent Friday morning to volunteer and give their time to package personal hygiene and other items into bags that will be distributed at four Veterans Affairs facilities.

“Every quarter we try and do some office-wide community engagement,” said Meredith Beck, community outreach coordinator for William Blair. “This is a great cause for us, with these packages going out to veterans in November.”

Two large office conference room tables served as a staging area and were stacked with personal hygiene items, as well as puzzle books, pencils and headphones. William Blair employees slowly circled the tables, taking items from multiple item areas to stuff donated bags to assemble the comfort kits.

“We chose to honor all our veterans at all the VA hospital locations throughout the state, and we’ve reached out to corporate sponsors like the generous William Blair,” said Elizabeth Barlow, Director of Service to the Armed Forces in Massachusetts. “We’ve got teams of Red Cross volunteers going out to each location on or around Veterans Day to say thank you to our veterans and provide them these comfort kits.”

William Blair is a global investment banking and asset management firm. We are committed to building enduring relationships with our clients and providing expertise and solutions to meet their evolving needs. An independent and employee-owned firm, William Blair is based in Chicago and, together with its strategic partners, operates in more than 20 offices worldwide.

The American Red Cross of Massachusetts provides care and support to members of Massachusetts’ military, veterans and their families through traditional and innovative programs aimed at preventing, preparing for and responding to the unique challenges that arise as a result of the deployment cycle and beyond.