In order to honor our veterans, give back to veterans and their families in need, and to bring awareness to the CMBG3 team about the mental health issues that our returning soldiers face, the CMBG3 Cares group (which is the charitable arm of the firm that ensures that every month, the firm gives back to the community and provides employees opportunities to give back) partnered with the CMBG3 DEI team.

On May 14, 2021, the DEI team invited Erik Brine of non-profit Operation Encore and Stephen Covell (U.S. military veteran) to speak to the CMBG3 team regarding educating and raising awareness about mental health issues for veterans, fighting stigma, offering appropriate support, ensuring that no one feels alone in their struggle, and working on policies that help people with mental illnesses, especially veterans. The initiative was arranged to honor Mental Health Awareness Month (May) and Memorial Day. Operation Encore is a group of artists from across the veteran and military communities. Their mission is to help provide opportunities and talent development for veterans in the music and arts industries. These veteran artists turn to music as their channel for sharing about their post-traumatic stress disorders, their dramatic experiences, and their ongoing feelings of loneliness and loss. Stephen Covell is an artist with Operation Encore. He enlisted in the Army in 2006 and returned to his native Monterey County in 2010 after serving two Tours of Duty as a U.S. Army combat medic in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now he heals with music and tries to help people feel better with his lyrics. He shared his music with us and spoke about how the songs help both himself and others who are struggling with PTSD, depression and suicidal thoughts. CMBG3 was honored to have both of these men speak to our team, and we were proud to be able to support Operation Encore with a donation that will support their efforts.

In addition, CMBG3 was honored to support the Massachusetts Military Heroes’ Fund, which is a nonprofit organization established to honor fallen servicemembers and provide support to their bereaved families. Every Memorial Day, the organization hosts an event in the Boston Common in which a flag is set in the ground for every Massachusetts military servicemember that lost their life serving our country in any of our nation’s wars. CMBG3 was proud to be able to make a contribution to this amazing organization to support their efforts.

CMBG3 is committed to supporting our community and giving back through out CMBG3 Cares program, an initiative that ensures that every month, our team members have a way to volunteer their time to our community or make a contribution in some way to those in need. Every month, CMBG3 Cares chooses a “theme” by which to focus our charitable and community initiatives. If you would like more information about our community and charitable giving programs, please contact John Gardella (jgardella@cmbg3.com), or visit us at our CMBG3 Cares page.

In addition, CMBG3 is proud to be a majority women-owned law firm and we are sincerely committed to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives not only in our firm, but in the legal community and society as a whole. For more about our D.E.I. initiatives, please visit us or contact our Chair of D.E.I., Seta Accaoui.