Affinity Gaming donated $26,400 to the Alzheimer's Association Desert Southwest Chapter.
Aristocrat and VGT gave $50,000 to the National Indian Gaming Association in support of the organization’s Capital Building Fund. The donation is part of a 5-year, $250,000 commitment. VGT is a division of Aristocrat.
The Nevada Eighth Judicial District Court received an $874,097 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs grant for Family Treatment Drug Court inpatient treatment and housing with intensive outpatient treatment. The grant will cover 13 residential beds and 13 housing slots with intensive outpatient treatment each year until September 30, 2021.
The Magic of Discovery Gala raised more than $300,000 to support Discovery Children’s Museum initiatives. During the evening, a surprise donation was announced by Judy Cebulko, a museum board member, who donated $10,000 in honor of Jeri and Rick Crawford, who were not able to attend the gala.
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave $10,000 to the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada.
Station Casinos donated a total of $110,000 to 11 Las Vegas Valley schools. The schools are participating in the Smart Start program, a partnership among Station, the Clark County School District and the Public Education Foundation, aimed at assisting high-need schools. Schools and their partner Station properties are Rex Bell Elementary (Palace Station); Laura Dearing Elementary (Boulder Station); Ollie Detwiler Elementary (Fiesta Rancho); P.A. Diskin Elementary (Red Rock Resort); Mabel Hoggard Elementary (Santa Fe Station); Howard E. Hollingsworth Elementary (Sunset Station); Helen Jydstrup Elementary (Palms Casino Resort); C.T. Sewell Elementary (Fiesta Henderson); C.P. Squires Elementary (Texas Station); Whitney Elementary (Station Casinos, Wildfire Gaming); and Robert L. Taylor Elementary (Green Valley Ranch Resort).
Selma Bartlett, a renowned philanthropist and icon in the local banking industry, received the annual Brad Garrett Humanitarian Award at Nathan Adelson Hospice’s “Serenades of Life —Doctors in Concert” event. Proceeds from the concert went to the Bonnie Schreck Memorial Complementary Therapies program at the hospice.
HCA Healthcare donated $1 million to the American Red Cross to assist those affected by Hurricane Michael.
Nevada Medical Center’s Recess Reboot program is expanding to Walter Bracken Elementary School in collaboration with Playworks, and with support from the UNLV School of Community Health Sciences. Following the pilot program at Hollingsworth Elementary in spring semester, NMC is expanding the program to additional Title I schools to further its commitment to preventive care and children’s positive mental health. Playworks is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that helps schools and youth programs create recess and play environments.
The Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology awarded the College of Southern Nevada $1 million to help strengthen STEM education in critically underrepresented student populations. The grant will fund the development of initiatives that seek to increase the number of underrepresented and low-income students studying and completing degrees or certificates in high-demand science, technology, engineering and math fields. Underrepresented groups in STEM include women, students of color, and students with disabilities. The grant award represents the beginning of a four-year partnership between OSIT and CSN with the goal of finding successful strategies that meet the needs of students and can be replicated at other colleges and universities in the state.
The Clark County Department of Family Services earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s All Children—All Families seal of recognition for its commitment to supporting and serving LGBTQ youth and families.
Three Square Food Bank’s food and fund drive, Fill the Plate, collected 35,000 pounds of shelf-stable food and raised more than $66,500, which provides more than 228,000 meals to Southern Nevadans struggling with hunger. Among the campaign’s sponsors were: Cosmopolitan, SEC Federal Credit Union, Findlay Kia and InTouch Credit Union, Lotus Broadcasting and KOMP 92.3 FM; and Orangetheory Fitness.
Vegas Indoor Skydiving raised more than $3,000 for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at its third annual Tunnel Jam Flight Competition and inaugural Tunnel Jam Celebrity Challenge. The competition, which featured two divisions and 15 of the country’s best bodyflyers, also raised hundreds of dollars’ worth of pet items, including dog food, blankets and dog toys. The Tunnel Jam Celebrity Challenge featured comedian Carrot Top, Vegas Golden Knights in-arena announcer Mark Shunock, BMX pro Ricardo Laguna, and Five Finger Death Punch bassist and former Vegas Indoor Skydiving instructor, Chris Kael. The celebrities attempted to throw a ball through a custom-made hoop that was suspended in a 22-foot-tall wind tunnel, with the wind running at full speed. For every ball that went through the hoop, Vegas Indoor Skydiving and Love Hikes donated $100 to the NSPCA.
Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada’s 20th annual Halloween Bash at Ellis Island Hotel raised about $107,000 for families battling childhood cancer.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation gave a $700,000 grant to the Clark County Detention Center and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to continue building on efforts to reform the local criminal justice system and safely reduce the county’s jail population. The grant is part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, a $148 million national initiative to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails. Clark County was one of 13 jurisdictions selected for the funding based on the progress of work to date. The money will provide CCDC and its partners with support and expert technical assistance to meet the goal of reducing the average daily jail population by 20 percent during the next two years.
This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.