Dear Rotarians,

Happy Holidays

 During this normally festive time of year our club is doing its best to be festive and to bring joy to children in our community who might otherwise be left out.  Our annual Santa Clothes event was different without the children at the stores to participate in picking out their new clothes, but nevertheless, still a great opportunity to be of service.  Our virtual holiday party was likewise different, but likewise, a success in a different way than past parties.  Kudos to everyone who showed amazing resilience as we changed each of these events from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C….

If someone you know is in a “bah humbug” mood this holiday season, lamenting the loss of normal activities that the Covid-19 virus has taken away, please invite them to consider joining Rotary where they can become so busy providing service above self that they will no longer have idle time to think about what may be missing.  For all the existing Rotarians, thanks again to all of you who have worked tirelessly to take care of each other and figure out ways to make our modified efforts a success!

Richard Jost
President
Las Vegas Rotary Club

Las Vegas Rotary Club Meeting:  November 25, 2020

President Richard Jost called the meeting to order.

• Bill Stieren gave the invocation.
• Kirk Holmes played the Thanksgiving Song by Tom Chapin.
• President Richard Jost announced that due to COVID that we would continue to remind and insist that members always wear a mask during our in-person meeting. The only exception to this rule is for when one is actively eating. 
• We were fortunate to have many prominent Kiwanis members attend our meeting both in person and via Zoom. President Richard Jost introduced Kiwanis Club President Phil Colosimo who then introduced many outstanding Kiwanis members including one who was instrumental in creating the Springs Preserve and many who organize the giving of scholarships throughout Clark County.  Our local Kiwanis Club started December of 1925 and since then they have met on Wednesday at 12:10pm.  The Kiwanis leads the charge in many activities in the community focusing on teaching children leadership skills and volunteerism. 
• Janice Lencke informed us that the virtual auction QR code was on everyone’s table. The virtual auction has over 50 items including trips, sports, and a package that will help you find the best dog for your family.  The auction goal is $15,000 and $2,000 have been raised so far. 
• Richard Jost mentioned that due to COVID our live holiday party has been cancelled and we will be having a Zoom holiday party instead. Green Valley Ranch was good to us during the cancellation process, so we recommend Green Valley Ranch for your local entertainment needs. 
• Jim Hunt gave us an update on Santa Clothes. We still desperately need holiday shoppers.  Please make sure that you are on the list and please invite other volunteers to also help. 
• Jim Hunt also told us about our wheelchairs. We continue to find worthy recipients but we are always looking for more.  Recipients need only meet three criteria.  They must be a Nevada resident, have a permanent disability, and cannot afford a new wheelchair.  If anyone comes to mind please contact Jim or Shawn.  So far 38 wheelchairs have been delivered. 
• Anthony Barnes awarded the trophy for our annual canned food drive to the club that raised the most money to purchase the most cans. 49,205 cans were collected by the Kiwanis club while our Rotary club was able to collect 132,594 cans thereby earning us this year’s trophy.  Rose Falocco kindly thanked everyone for bringing in cans and for purchasing raffle tickets in support of this year’s canned food drive.
• Kim Nyoni presented our latest Paul Harris award. Arleen Sirois earned a Paul Harris+2.  
• Tom Thomas introduced our speaker for today, Niki Bates. Niki described how our local PBS has been a pillar of the community since 1968.  She described that our local PBS does so much more for children’s education than the always popular Sesame Street.  Especially during COVID, PBS has been active in creating content and virtual experiences with the local community.  One of the silver linings of the virtual experiences has been the increased exposure of entire families to the online education programs that they provide. 
• President Richard Jost announced that we would be donating to the USO on Niki’s behalf. He then adjourned the meeting.