2021-2022

2021-2022

On July 1, 2021, Mike Ballard in his 26th year as a member of the club became its 99th President, succeeding Richard Jost who gracefully led the club through the start and middle of the Covid Pandemic .

President Mike started the year with the theme of “Service is the medicine for the soul .” The Rotary International theme for this year is “Serve to Change Lives .” Incoming Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta is urging members to become more involved in-service projects . Mehta Taught that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own .

The Rotary also tried to demonstrate more diversity throughout the year . We sought out various religions to offer invocations at the start of meetings and more programs from people of color . We also brought in a number of Vegas old timers to share part of the history of Las Vegas, in preparation of our 100th year next year . We received several insightful presentations from Joseph W . Brown, John Edmund, Mujahid Ramadan, Alan Feldman, Former U .S . Senator Richard Bryan and food critic John Curtas, among all of our wonderful speakers .

President Mike and board member Rob Pistone reinstituted the Sole Power Awards, partnering this year with Sketchers to give shoes and socks to needy children at the schools we support .

Returning to normal also let the Las Vegas Rotary Club implement a new program: VIP Tours as another fundraising mechanism for the foundation . Throughout the year, Rotarians were able to go on exclusive tours in Las Vegas . Former board members Howie Hopkinson and Rosalee Hedrick led this initiative with leadership from Carey Grohs . These tours included touring the luxurious Blue Heron Vegas Modern 001 home, a behind the scene tour of the Virgin Hotel by Virgin CEO Richard Bosworth, and even getting to play with vintage tanks and armory at Battlefield Vegas . The tours helped raise many thousands for the foundation .

Barbara Castro and Arleen Sirois proposed several green initiatives for the club, many of which were adopted and implemented . One of which was recycling the programs and other papers handed out at the club each year . Another was planting fruit-bearing trees and some of the schools we sponsored .

In September, the Las Vegas Rotary Foundation received accolades from Vegas Inc, receiving the 2021 Angel Award for Foundation of the Year . Foundation President Bob Werner represented to Club at the event .

Many incredible cars from the James Hetfield collection were on display during the Second Annual Concours d’Elegance event in October . The event, sponsored by the Las Vegas Rotary Club, also benefitted the club with a portion of proceeds from ticket sales going to the club .

The Santa Clothes Program also returned for its 26th year, providing shoes, socks, winter clothing, mentoring and a sports ball to at-risk children in the valley . More than 366 people from area clubs helped serve 348 children in the community . Our club continues to spearhead the program .

For the first time since 2020, we were able to hold our holiday party in-person at the Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa and Casino, which was a huge success . Janice Lencke did a wonderful job coordinating everything . More than 120 members and guests attended . The food was fantastic and the fellowship was glorious . Greg Maguire DJ’d the event and fun was had by all!

Midway through President’s Mike’s term, President Mike instituted a Rotary Member of the Month recognition to recognize those members providing extraordinary service . Some of the members recognized were Barbara Castro, Susan Ziobro, Jaime Goldsmith, Toni Kern, and John Palley .

This year proved to be an amazing year for the Rotary Foundation, thanks in part by a challenge issued by Tom and Leslie Thomas . The challenge? To raise

$100,000 in donations for the foundation, with the Thomas family matching the amount . After the first half of the year, Rotarians had raised around $37,000, but as we needed the end of the year it didn’t look like the goal would be met . Throughout the spring we made great progress, getting close to $80,000 by mid- June . We weren’t sure that we could get to the $100,000 goal by the end of President Mike’s term . However, at the very end of the month major contributions by Chris Rodenfels and Gary Vause pushed the club over our $100,000 target, making it the first time the club had raised more than $100,000 in a year for the foundation . Other major donors for the campaign included Paul Maffey, Mike Ballard, Bill Stephen and Kathy Mahon . Overall, more than 100 members participated in this monumental accomplishment .

Besides our record setting year for the Foundation, we also continued our strong philanthropy with individual organizations . Thanks to Pam Samuolis and the spouses of Rotary group, we continued our support of the USO with approximately

$700 worth of donated items . We also donated 85 wheelchairs to the homes of people in need, raising our Rotary total over the years to more than 185 .

The Club’s annual reading program partnered with Spread the Word Nevada, provided $25,000 in new books to Tier 1 elementary schoolchildren . Since the program was created 25 years ago, it has given $1 .5 million in services and donations to local children .

Rotarians showed off their hospitality in February, partnering with the Downtown Rotary Club to host 18 boys from France for the Mayors Cup International Soccer Tournament . The boys were the only international team and, while they didn’t make it to the finals, they had a great experience thanks to their host families .

In April, our club continued showing their Rotarian spirit at the District Assembly in Apple Valley, California . Not only did several of our members take the day to learn more about fulfilling club duties, but our club also won 1,000 Paul Harris points for having the largest membership in attendance .

April also saw our members volunteer at the Green Our Planet Giant Farmers Market in Summerlin . Led by Rotarian Toni Kern, our volunteers helped more than 600 students from 50 schools throughout Southern Nevada as they ran the market, selling fruit and vegetables in school gardens, as well as handmade crafts . Included in those schools were Laura Dearing, Quannah McCall, Walter Long and Will Beckley, four of our Rotary sponsored schools .

Speaking of our sponsored schools, the education committee, led by Stu Lipoff, Kathy Mahon and Marie Walsh, did a fantastic job supporting all six schools that we support . This includes two schools President Mike added that he attended as a youth to the program, Laura Dearing and Quannah McCall . Throughout the year, we continued to increase our participation in service to our local Title 1 elementary schools by being able to return to in-person volunteering opportunities .

In April, Mike Ballard, Gwen Hall, Kathy Mahon and Brian Rosenburg donated books to 16 classrooms at Laura Dearing . The club also planted various fruit trees at their sponsored schools and hosted the science fair judging at Walter Bracken Elementary School .

We continued caring for our environment with regular cleanups of the three-mile stretch of highway near Red Rock Canyon . We also started what we expect to be an annual event, Lake Mead Beach Clean Up for World Earth Day . A group of Rotarians went to Boulder Beach to help clean the special event beach area .

Not only did the club have a strong presence at the District Assembly in April, but Caty Crockett, Bhaven Singh, Barbara Castro and Rampur Viswanath also represented the Las Vegas Rotary Club at the Rotary International conference in June . The four heard from Rotary General Secretary and CEO John Hewko about Rotary’s support for peace in Ukraine .

The club not only had a strong presence at conferences, but also had exceptional success locally in membership recruitments . During the year, we had 26 new members join the Las Vegas Rotary Club . For those who joined this year and have been Rotarians for years, thank you for your support of Rotary’s goals in the Las Vegas community .

During the Rotary year 2021-2022 the LVRC has accumulated 29 new Paul Harris achievements; nine Rotarians had their initial PHF’s, and another 20 Rotarians have been upgraded to multiple PHFs . At the same time, we had four Rotarians who have achieved Major Donor status and to date LVRC has a total 41 major donors’ status since 1991 .

Our board of directors for the year were Caty Crockett, Toni Kern, Stu Lipoff, Carey Grohs, Rene Gamero, Richard Jost, Brian Sorrentino, Tina Bishop, Tom Thomas, Kirk Holmes, Mike Cudiamat, Bill Houghton and Rob Pistone.

Little of what we do would be possible without the continued support from our highly capable Executive Director Shawn Noorda .