Bank of Nevada volunteers staffed a daylong event at the Finance Park to help eighth-grade students from Silvestri Junior High School learn about finances. Each volunteer was paired with six to eight students to help foster discussion and provide guidance.
Allegiant donated $5,000 to Nate Mack Elementary School and Barbara and Hank Greenspun Junior High School to help finance a trip by the two schools’ robotics teams to the VEX IQ Robotics World Championship, held at the end of April.
America First Credit Union participated in the Richard Myles Johnson Foundation’s “Bite of Reality” event, which provided students real-world simulation guiding them through financial scenarios.
Rí Rá Las Vegas raised more than $10,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation during its seventh annual head-shaving fundraiser. Twenty-four people had their heads shaved at the event.
City National Bank awarded almost 60 “Reading is the Way Up” literacy grants totaling more than $53,000 to schools in California, Nevada, New York and Georgia. Southern Nevada recipients included:
• Dorothy Eisenberg Elementary, Christina Cozby’s sight word fever after-school program
• Edith Garehime Elementary, Shelley Kress’ consumable novels project
• Helen Jydstrup Elementary, Linda Doole’s biographies for upper grades project and Jezarie Abrams’ literacy is the key to life success program
• John C. Bass Elementary, Suzanne Whiddon’s reading and writing book clubs
• Lilly and Wing Fong Elementary, Tiffanie Petersen’s improving literacy through multiple text sources program
• Walter Bracken STEAM Academy, Christine Herberts’ investigating books with CIA program
• Walter V. Long STEAM Academy, Victoria Watkis’ stories and snack program
• West Career and Technical Academy, Joel Broome’s spilled ink program
The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service awarded $46,032 in African-American civil rights grants to Nevada. The money will go to the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office for “The African-American Experience in Nevada: A Historic Context Project.”
A team of UNLV students won the Young Innovator Award and $2,500 as part of Barrick Gold’s BattleBorn series, made possible by Cisco, Switch and Unearthed. Saju Varghese, Julio Figueroa, Cristina Hernandez Castro and Maria Ramos Gonzalez were part of a group that developed a scheduling and monitoring system for fans in Barrick’s Cortez mine.
Walker Furniture donated lounge chairs, a bookshelf and table to the Communities in Schools of Nevada resource room at Sunrise Mountain High School as part of the “Elevate Your GPA” competition.
Dental Care International’s seventh annual “Give Kids a Smile” event presented by Nevada State Bank provided free dental care to 59 uninsured children. The total dental care at the event was worth $45,506; 44 dental professionals assisted at the event.
Cram Middle School received furniture as part of Walker Furniture’s 18th annual Teacher Appreciation Day. Cram was chosen because of a letter written by eighth-grader Demarie Harris on behalf of her teacher, Amberlee Udy. Furnishings included a sofa, love seat, end table, coffee table, lamp, bookcase, plant and picture for the wall.
Family Promise of Las Vegas received a van from the NV Energy Foundation. The van will provide transportation for homeless families.
The Nevada Department of Corrections, in collaboration with the Governor’s Re-Entry Task Force, received $999,276 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs for the second phase of the Second Chance Act Statewide Adult Recidivism Reduction program. The funds will be used to continue developing a statewide re-entry plan and case management system, evidence-based programs and practices in prisons, and a balanced approach for supervising returning citizens that emphasizes public safety, offender accountability and community-based programming.
The National Automobile Dealers Association donated $50,000 to the Nellis Support Team, a nonprofit organization that supports more than 30,000 members of the military and their families at Nellis Air Force Base, Creech Air Force Base and the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded Vegas PBS $188,705 to advance technical education and career readiness as part of the “American Graduate: Getting to Work initiative.” The program assesses middle-skill workforce challenges and opportunities, and produces content for students and workers 16 to 26 years old. The initiative will also identify career training programs that provide skills for veterans and adults re-entering the workforce.
America First Credit Union teamed up with the Vegas Golden Knights to create the Game Changer program, which awarded four teachers with $1,000 grants: Valley High’s Lisa Withrow, Coronado High’s Aron Anderson, Shadow Ridge’s Christopher Della Valle and Sierra Vista’s Catherine Callisto.
The Shade Tree received two $45,000 grants from the MGM Resorts Foundation. The funds will be used to support The Shade Tree’s Children’s Activity Center and Survivor Services Center.
Nevada State Bank donated $12,950 to Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada. During the 2017-18 basketball season for the UNLV Rebels, the bank partnered with Make-A-Wish to sponsor Swish for a Wish. From Nov. 11 through Feb. 21, the bank donated $25 for every free throw made by a Rebel.