GVR staffers shave it off for charity

By Mytae Carrasco

Published Sunday, March 8, 2009 | 3:48 a.m.

Updated Monday, March 9, 2009 | 1:06 p.m.

Green Valley Ranch staffers might feel a little cold this morning — dozens of them decided to shave their heads Saturday to raise money for childhood cancer research.

As friends, family members and co-workers cheered them on, GVR executives, staff, employees and Henderson residents went under the razor to raise money to support the St. Baldrick’s community charity event inside Quinn’s on Saturday evening.

The charity event drew an estimated 100 participants.

The night was looking shinier for patrons visiting Hank's Fine Steaks and Martinis, as the chefs and sommeliers were the first ones to trade their locks for a bold new look.

Husband and wife team Larry and Jordanna McNamee of Henderson had no qualms about shaving their heads completely.

“I have a heart condition so I can’t donate blood. I can’t take part in those however many 'k runs' so I was like hey - hair, it will grow back, it’s the least I can do,” Larry McNamee said.

“I feel great because I got people to sponsor me and they donated in my name for doing this and I actually feel like I did something," he said.

For Jordanna McNamee, shaving her hair was an easy decision because one of her two children was born very ill.

“My daughter is alive because every single person on the medical staff, therapy staff helped her recover and become fully 100 percent healthy. This is something I can do to help another family, another child feel good about themselves and give back what they have given us,” she said.

Much of the excitement surrounding the event was due to the Green Valley Ranch executive team shaving their heads.

Ken Rubeli, organizer of the St. Baldrick’s event in Henderson and vice president and assistant general manager of GVR said “we are well past our goal and we couldn’t be happier on how this turned out.”

“There is a lot of egos with the executive team here, nobody likes to say no. We all have can-do attitudes. The minute a couple of us said we were going to do it, it was kind of hard for people to back out,” Rubeli said.

Organizers said Monday that Quinn’s had raised $45,000 in its first year of participating in the event. McMullan’s Irish Pub on Tropicana Avenue also held the same event Saturday, which drew about 300 participants and raised $182,000 in its third year of participating.

“The economy is pretty much the worst we’ve seen since I was born and I’m 38. Even in a bad economy cancer doesn’t stop and you have to raise money for cancer. It just goes to show you even in a tough economy people step up and give what they can,”Rubeli said.

Chris Connors, MIX Manager at Mandalay Bay is already looking forward to next year’s event — “traditions like this bring a lot of culture to our community and this is what our community needs.”