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Employees of Park Place Infiniti recently adopted two families from HELP of Southern Nevada and collected enough donations for the families to fill a convertible displayed in the dealership’s showroom. The holiday donation drive was part of the Circle of Excellence program that Park Place brought to the dealership. It’s an employee-led program dedicated to raising money for local charities. The employee group has plans for community outreach projects every month, with its first being the holiday donation drive for HELP.
Trosper Communications, a public relations, advertising and design firm, donated $1,000 to the Advanced Technology Academy. A-Tech is a public magnet high school in Las Vegas with a focus on technology.
Polar Shades donated 600 Pop-Tarts and bottles of water for emergency preparedness kits, as well as $500 in school supplies, to Edna F. Hinman Elementary School in Henderson. Polar Shades employees hand delivered the boxes of pens, books, binders, paper and food.
Winder Farms and Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada recently hosted a “Thanks-A-Lot” Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. Food was provided by Winder Farms and prepared by chefs from the Stratosphere. Girl Scouts earned “Dinner Party” badges by setting tables, plating food and serving dinner.
The staff of XS and Tryst nightclubs donated $172,000 worth of toys this year to KLUC’s 14th annual “Chet Buchanan and the Morning Zoo Toy Drive.” The staffs raise money all year, collecting a portion of their tips and personal contributions. This year’s donation marked a total contribution of more than half a million dollars in toys given over the past seven years to Southern Nevada children.
Glittering Lights, the holiday drive-through light display, participated in the Las Vegas Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities grant distribution and tree lighting ceremony. The event raised $199,000 for 60 local charities, 13 more than last year. In 2011, Glittering Lights raised $27,300 for the organization. Speedway Children’s Charities also raised money through a golf tournament, the Cards for Kids Texas Hold ’em Poker Tournament at the Stratosphere and Laps for Charity at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Clark County Building Department donated dozens of teddy bears to the Las Vegas Fire Department as part of its annual “Trauma Teddies” effort. Building department employees have made a tradition of collecting teddy bears and stuffed animals for the fire department during the holidays. Firefighters and first responders give the toys to children at fire, emergency medical service and vehicle accident scenes. Some of the bears will also be donated over the holidays to local hospitals and nursing homes.
Aliante Casino and Hotel catered a lunch with traditional holiday dishes for about 300 individuals at the Shade Tree on Christmas Eve. Aliante’s food and beverage staff created a special menu for the group and they, along with some of Aliante’s other team members, hosted the midday feast at the shelter, the largest of its kind in Nevada. The Shade Tree has been supporting women, children and their pets who have been victims of domestic violence for more than 20 years. The nonprofit charity provides more than 100,000 nights of shelter each year.
Nevada State Bank donated 2,350 pounds of nonperishable food items to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission for the holidays. The Las Vegas Rescue Mission provides meals, shelters and recovery programs to people in need. The mission also operates a thrift store at 480 W. Bonanza Road. Nevada State Bank employees collected canned food items and regularly volunteer to serve meals to thousands of men, women and children at the mission.
North Las Vegas firefighters sponsored an illuminated and interactive fire station called Northern Lights at this year’s Magical Forest at Opportunity Village. In addition, firefighters hosted a raffle, which benefited Opportunity Village, for the chance to win a special fire chief pedal car. Firefighters were on hand nightly to talk to kids about fire safety, pass out candy and sell raffle tickets. Since 2005, North Las Vegas firefighters have participated every year in the Magical Forest, have donated more than 4,400 volunteer hours and have raised more than $20,000 for Opportunity Village from their raffles.
The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Foundation received a $10,000 grant from the PwC Charitable Foundation to engage in a collaborative planning project for 21st century youth digital media programs at the Youth Digital Media Lab. The library district will partner with the Las Vegas Office of Neighborhood Services, Henderson District Public Libraries, Discovery Children’s Museum, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum and the UNLV Department of Journalism and Media Studies to create a multisite implementation plan that phases in delivery of communitywide digital media learning opportunities for youths in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Hospitality Association held its fourth annual “Fill A Bag With Cheer” operation at Manny Cortez Elementary this year. It was expanded to include a holiday carnival. More than 300 students received a bag filled with shoes, sweat suits or warm clothing, toys and other necessities. LVHA worked closely with the school’s teachers and principal to determine which children are the most in need. The remainder of the students received a stocking and an activity book.
Generation Vegas donated $50,000 to the Public Education Foundation to support the Clark County READS program, a literacy initiative. Funds were raised at the Las Vegas Zombie Run, which attracted more than 1,500 runners and 300 volunteers. Money will be used to replace outdated nonfiction books in Clark County School District libraries and classrooms.
About 20 CenturyLink employees participated in KLUC’s 14th annual “Chet Buchanan and the Morning Zoo Toy Drive” by buying bikes, helmets, toys, games and books for HELP of Southern Nevada. CenturyLink donated more than $5,000 to the drive, which aims to help 19,000 homeless or struggling local children and families.
Centennial Toyota matched a $5,000 grant from the Toyota Dealer Match Program to After-School All-Stars Las Vegas, for a $10,000 total donation. The group provides after-school activities for underserved Clark County students. Donation funds help pay for underwriting costs at the program’s 15 at-risk schools.