Thomas J. Henry and Dr. Elena Alvarez-Henry title sponsor the American Cancer Society Grand Gala

At a Glance

• Thomas J. Henry and Dr. Elena Alvarez-Henry served for the second time as title sponsors of the American Cancer Society's 2026 Grand Gala at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan.
• The gala raises funds for services including the Puerto Rico Hope Lodge, a 33-room facility opened in 2013 that houses traveling cancer patients and caregivers at no charge.
• Henry established the Thomas J. Henry Center for Philanthropy in Corpus Christi, Texas in 2025 and previously gave $1 million to SER of Puerto Rico.
• For Alvarez-Henry, the cause traces to a medical school classmate whose young son traveled hours for leukemia treatment.

Texas attorney and philanthropist Thomas J. Henry and his wife, Dr. Elena Alvarez-Henry, served for the second time as title sponsors of the American Cancer Society's 2026 Grand Gala at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, marking sponsorship of an organization with which both have longstanding personal connections. For the couple, giving back has long been part of their lives individually. Now, it is increasingly becoming something they are doing together.

The annual Grand Gala is one of the American Cancer Society's signature fundraising events in Puerto Rico, raising funds to help sustain services including the Puerto Rico Hope Lodge and Hogar Niños Que Quieren Sonreír. Hope Lodge provides cancer patients and their caregivers who must travel for treatment with complimentary accommodations and a supportive home away from home near treatment centers. The Puerto Rico facility, which opened in 2013, has 33 guest rooms.

The Puerto Rico Hope Lodge is part of a nationwide American Cancer Society program of more than 30 facilities across the United States and Puerto Rico. The San Juan-area location provides eligible patients and caregivers with lodging at no charge while patients undergo active cancer treatment away from home.

For Dr. Elena Alvarez-Henry, the mission resonates with an experience that dates to medical school. A fellow student had a young son with leukemia and was forced to travel for hours so the child could receive treatment. Seeing firsthand the additional burden that distance placed on a family already confronting cancer left a lasting impression on her and helped shape her belief that access to care involves far more than medicine alone.

That experience made the work of Hope Lodge, which aims to remove some of the practical and financial barriers separating patients from potentially lifesaving treatment, especially meaningful to the couple.

For Thomas J. Henry, the sponsorship continues more than three decades of charitable involvement spanning health care, education, hunger relief, children, veterans and community organizations. In 2025, that work was formalized with the establishment of the Thomas J. Henry Center for Philanthropy in Corpus Christi, Texas, created to coordinate charitable partnerships and direct resources toward communities where they can make a lasting impact.

Puerto Rico has also become particularly meaningful to Henry and Alvarez-Henry. Around the time of their engagement celebrations on the island, Henry made a $1 million contribution to SER of Puerto Rico as the organization approached its 75th anniversary. The funding has helped SER expand access to specialized medical and rehabilitation services for children and adults across Puerto Rico.

The American Cancer Society sponsorship represents a continuation of that relationship with the island, and also something more personal: the emergence of a shared philanthropic agenda for Henry and Alvarez-Henry.

Rather than approaching philanthropy as a gesture, the couple is focused on supporting organizations that address tangible needs, whether that means helping a child reach specialized medical care, giving a cancer patient somewhere to stay during treatment or providing community organizations with resources to serve more families. The Puerto Rico Hope Lodge embodies that philosophy.

For Thomas J. Henry and Dr. Elena Alvarez-Henry, it is a partnership they hope can quietly make a difference, one community and one family at a time. For more information on the work of the Thomas J. Henry Center for Philanthropy, visit www.tjhgives.com.

Thomas J. Henry Law, PLLC is one of the nation's leading personal injury firms. Since 1993, the firm has fought to secure justice and compensation for individuals who have lost loved ones due to the negligence of others and to prevent similar instances of wrongful death from occurring again.

Over that time, Thomas J. Henry and his firm have received numerous awards and recognitions, including Attorney of the Year by Top 100 Lawyers (Top 100 Registry, Inc.) for Outstanding Achievement in Personal Injury and Mass Tort. He was also named a Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyer by The National Trial Lawyers and a Legal Superstar of 2022 by Newsweek.com.

Outside of the courtroom, the firm is known for its many philanthropic endeavors and generous contributions to local and global communities. The firm has an active philanthropy program that supports causes related to poverty, veterans, national disaster relief, education, animal welfare, and the arts. For more information about Thomas J. Henry please visit thomasjhenrylaw.com.