Employees of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck participated in a clean-up day at Halle Hewetson Elementary School, the school they’ve adopted for the academic year. The group built backpack hooks for the students and painted murals to brighten the school grounds.
Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada raised nearly $200,000 at the sixth annual Heart of Hope luncheon. The money raised will support programs that help roughly 100,000 residents a year. This year’s recipients of the Heart of Hope Award were Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican and former CCSN Executive Director Ed Skonicki.
United Way of Southern Nevada exceeded its campaign goal for the first time in six years. The community raised $7,760,734, which was $188,288 over the goal and $157,371 over last year. The funding supports programs that help prepare children for school, teach financial literacy skills and help students reach high school graduation.
In collaboration with the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas raised the walls on its 107th home. The three-bedroom home is the 13th Habitat Las Vegas house that GLVAR has supported over the years. In addition to donating $100,000, GLVAR’s members are helping with construction.
Las Vegas Municipal Court judges Cedric A. Kerns and Heidi Almase were recognized by the Foundation for Recovery for combating addiction. Kerns was presented the Brick Award, the highest honor bestowed by the foundation. Almase was given the Community Partner Award, which honors an individual who is supportive of addiction recovery and for serving the greater good of the community.
Ernest J. May Elementary School hosted a dinner to honor the legacy of namesake Ernest J. May, the first Las Vegas police officer to lose his life in the line of duty, on June 8, 1933. Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony presented May’s daughter, 97-year-old Anita Lewis, with a proclamation that marks May 1 as “Ernest May Day,” and U.S. Marshal Christopher Hoye unveiled the school’s new mascot — the May Marshals.
Cox Communications and area organizations awarded $35,000 in diversity scholarships to 10 college-bound high school seniors. The recipients were Maya Rawls (from Cox and 100 Black Men of Las Vegas), Mira Dani (from Cox and the Asian Community Development Council), Paloma Tapia (from Cox and Chicanos Por La Causa), Leslie Machabee (from Cox and the Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce), Sarah Nicholl (from Cox and Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada), Brooke Yannis (from Cox and Junior League of Las Vegas), Ciera Wiltz (from Cox and Urban Chamber of Commerce), Grace Kang (from Cox and the Gay and Lesbian Center of Southern Nevada), Linda Ly (from Cox and OCA Las Vegas) and Hannah Schneidman (from Cox and the Puerto Rican Association of Las Vegas).
Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada celebrated National Rebuilding Day with approximately 1,000 volunteers revitalizing 13 homes.
California Pizza Kitchen at Downtown Summerlin and the Make-A-Wish Foundation gave a 12-year-old boy with Dravet syndrome a Disney cruise. Dravet syndrome is a seizure disorder and the child, Matthew, suffered his first seizure at 9 months old.
Ben Etter, 10, was the Honored Hero at the annual Take Steps for Crohn’s and Colitis Walk benefiting the nonprofit Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.
Del E. Webb Middle School teacher Lori Henrickson was invited to the White House to join President Barack Obama during his 2016 National Teacher of the Year event. Henrickson is a science and leadership teacher, as well as the student council adviser.
Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican received $36,654 from the National Breast Cancer Foundation for mammograms and ultrasounds.
The Regional Transportation Commission, Clark County School District, Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition and BikingLasVegas.com hosted Ride for Reading, promoting literacy and healthy living through the distribution of books via bicycle. Better World Books donated 2,000 books to students at Frank Kim Elementary School in Las Vegas.
Four health advocates from Las Vegas were honored at the sixth annual St. Jude: An Affair of the Art gala for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They are Dr. Paul Wilkes and Dr. Joseph Adashek of Desert Perinatal Associates, Dr. Wesley Robertson of Sunshine Valley Pediatrics and Robyn Williams, founder and president of ChoiceCenter Leadership University.
Communities In Schools of Nevada honored volunteers and partners at the 2016 Power Within honors ceremony. Honorees were CarMax West Sahara – Community Volunteer of the Year (group); Natalie Manning – Community Volunteer of the Year (individual); Positively Kids – Community Partner of the Year; Goodie Two Shoes Foundation – Community Partner of the Year; Wynn Resorts – Corporate Partner of the Year; Nevada State Bank – Sustaining Partner of the Year; and Dr. Lisa Morris Hibbler – Civic and Public Partner of the Year. Noy Thongkham, a CIS of Nevada site coordinator at Rancho High School, was given the Unsung Hero Award. Rancho Principal James Kuzma was given special recognition because that school made the U.S. News & World Report list of best high schools in Nevada.