Brian Burton relocated from Dallas to Las Vegas in April of 2011 to become President and CEO of Three Square Food Bank. Since his arrival, Brian has helped Three Square develop into one of the fastest growing food banks in the nation. With his strong leadership and passionate vision for a hunger-free community, Southern Nevada’s only food bank has established itself as a trailblazer in the field of food sourcing and distribution.

In 2016, Three Square distributed more than 40 million pounds of food and grocery product, the equivalent of more than 33 million meals. Three Square works with a service network of nearly 1,300 community partners including nonprofit and faith-based organizations, schools, government agencies and businesses, which help the organization serve more than 137,000 individuals monthly.

Three Square, which has been in operation since 2007, is a member of the Feeding America network, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, working to connect people with food and end hunger.Brian’s career began as a controller for Centex Homes, but quickly

Brian’s career began as a controller for Centex Homes, but quickly evolved into humanitarian work after serving as an associate pastor at a Baptist church in Dallas, Texas. He then served for 14 years as Executive Director of the Wilkinson Center, a faith-based nonprofit organization lifting people out of poverty through education and emergency services. Brian is a current member and past chair of the Greater Las Vegas Nonprofit CEO Council, where he collaborates with leaders from the major social service providers in the community.

Brian is a native of Little Rock, Ark., and holds an MBA degree from Louisiana State University and a Master of Divinity from Southern
Seminary in Louisville, Ky. When Brian is not working, he enjoys writing, reading, bird-watching, traveling, and hiking up Mt. Charleston with his basset hound.

Dear Rotarians,

Welcome to one of the most unique Rotary meetings you will ever experience – the Hunger Banquet! Today we are going to share a meal and as we do, we’ll learn about world hunger together.

See if you know the answer to this question about world hunger:

True or false? The poor are the hungry and the hungry are the poor.

True. The poor are the hungry. But the poor are more than just hungry.

Poverty is a multidimensional problem:

• Poverty is lack of shelter
• Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor
• Poverty is not being able to go to school, not knowing how to read.
• Poverty is not having a job
• Poverty is fear for the future, living one day at a time
• Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water
• Poverty is the condition of not having a voice—not realizing one’s rights, and not knowing how to ask for what is needed
• Poverty often brings a lack of hope that anything could ever be better

More than anything, poverty is a situation people want to escape. Therefore, poverty is a call to put Christian compassion and faith into action — a call to change the world so that more and more people may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities. The goal is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and to promote sustainable agriculture.

I hope you will keep an open mind about today’s meeting. If not, we have prime rib scheduled as the meal for next week.

Michael Gordon
95th President
Rotary Club of Las Vegas

• President Michael Gordon called the meeting to order.
• Francesca Gilbert gave the invocation. Jaime Goldsmith led the club in singing the National Anthem. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and the Sergeant-at-Arms was Rod Tucker.
• There were (2) International Rotarian, (1) Visiting Rotarians, and (5) Guests of Rotarians that were introduced.
• The drawing began at $671.00 plus this week’s donations. The winner gets half the pot and half goes to the Las Vegas Rotary Foundation. Ticket Winner: Jerry Sennes who won $10! Lawry Bucks Winner: Jimmelle Siarot.
• President Michael Gordon presented Arleen Sirois with a check for $6,824 for winning the raffle drawing. The other half went to the LV Rotary Foundation.
• Anna Karabachev received the August 4-Way Test coin from President Michael Gordon due to her innovative project involving local musicians.
• PP Brock Fraser presented Howie Hopkinson with his initial Paul Harris Fellowship pin.
• A Project Hope video was shown and International Director Melanie Muldowney spoke about the $5,000 grant that was given to this project during PP Dave Thorson’s year. The project provides community education in Mexico.
• Jaime Goldsmith announced that the SOAR committee meets every Wednesday at noon at Tommy Rocker’s. The ceremony is on Monday, September 18 from 8 am to 10:30 am at LV City Hall Council Chambers.
• Marie Walsh announced that the next Breakfast with Books is at 7:45 am on September 12.
• President Michael Gordon announced Rotary Essentials training on Saturday, September 9 at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law.
• PP Jim Hunt announced that the next Cigar Social is at PP Randy Donald’s home on Friday, September 8 at 6 pm. Please bring something to drink and to share.
• Bob Fisher announced that the next Wetzel awards are on September 8, 2017.
• Tim Mullin introduced the speaker, Andrew Schuricht, founder of Valor Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) firm. CSRs help companies make more money by giving back. Identifying the Business Benefits, finding a direct connection to the business benefits and investing in a CSR that stakeholders care about is the type of service Valor provides.
• President Michael Gordon presented the speaker with a “Sole Power” award and adjourned the meeting.