The Wheel for November 17, 2016

by Nov 16, 2016Blog, The Wheel0 comments

The Wheel


Brian Burton President & CEO of Three Square Food Bank

 burtonBrian 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 the fastest growing food bank 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 2015, Three Square distributed more than 38 million pounds of food and grocery product, the equivalent of more than 31 million meals and a record for the organization.  Three Square works with a service network of nearly 1,300 community partners including nonprofit and faith-based organizations, schools and feeding sites, which help Three Square serve more than 137,000 individuals monthly.  

Three Square, which has been in operation since 2007, is a member of Feeding America, a national network of member food banks that engage our country in the fight to end hunger.

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 at the Wilkinson Center, a faith-based nonprofit organization lifting people out of poverty through education and emergency services.

Brian is a native of Little Rock, Ark., and holds a 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.

Message From The President

David ThorsonDear Rotarians,

With the grand finale of the Canned Food Drive next week and TLC and Santa Clothes just around the corner, we are now into the thick our service projects calendar. I would like to reflect on our Club’s Mission for moment and tie that in to my experience this week at Breakfast with Books at Beckley.

As a reminder, our Mission is:
“Teaching Youth to Succeed through Literacy, Education & Life Skills Development”

Clearly it is hard to teach kids anything if they are hungry or cold so our Canned Food Drive and Santa Clothes are both foundational in making our mission possible. With that base established, we provide a broad range of services focused directly on our mission.

At the elementary school level, we now work with four different atrisk schools providing a wide range of support. We have seen the incredible results of our Rotary Club supporting the amazing school faculty and administration at Bracken. That school has gone from
being an underperforming poster child to now being a nationally recognized top-performing magnet school. This same transformation
is underway at Long, Beckley and now Hollingsworth.

Through our major support of Spread the Word Nevada at Beckley, I witnessed first-hand this week at a Breakfast with Books event the incredible joy and appreciation these children and their families feel for the support we provide. See the pictures in this week’s Wheel of the 214 people packing the cafeteria.

If you ever doubt we are on the right path, just stop by Beckley during any of our various support activities. You might find you get as much out of the experience as the kids.

Rotary Serving Humanity indeed!

David Thorson
President 2016-2017

Member Highlights

Scribe – November 10, 2016

  • President David Thorson called the meeting to order and wished the US Marine Corps a happy 241st birthday which kicked off our Veteran’s Day program.
  • Past President Steve Linder gave the invocation. Ted McAdam introduced Palo Verde High School Air Force JROTC Color Guard who presented the colors.
  • Tim Mullen and Ted McAdam then then led the club in singing the National Anthem. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and the Sergeant-at-Arms was Kirk Alexander.
  • There was (1) International Rotarian, (2) Visiting Rotarians and (7) Guests of Rotarians were introduced.
  • The drawing began at $2,043.00 plus this week’s donations. The winner gets half the pot and half goes to the Las Vegas Rotary Foundation. Ticket Winner: a guest of a Rotarian who won $10! Lawry Bucks Winner: Arlene Sirois.
  • President David Thorson let the club know that Past President Sharon McNair’s husband Bill was being moved to hospice and asked the club to keep Sharon, Bill and their family in our thoughts and prayers.
  • Past President Kathy Dalvey presented the club with the ballot for next week’s Board of Directors election.
  • Past President Tom Krob reminded us that Santa Clothes will be December 8th and shoppers are still needed at the Galleria and Grand Canyon locations. He also said that the Edmonton Club had a successful first Santa Clothes with over 100 kids. Past President Jim Hunt was there to help out.
  • Marie Walsh announced that the next book cleaning at Spread the Word Nevada is November 14, 2016 from 10am to 12pm and November 17, 2016 from 5pm to 7pm. She also announced that the next Breakfast with Books will be held at Beckley Elementary School on November 15, 2016.
  • Jackie Thornhill announced that the next Wetzel Awards will be on December 1, 2016.
  • Deb Granda reminded us of our holiday party at the Four Seasons on December 8th. Signups and menu selections are needed immediately.
  • Nancy Slitz provided information on two upcoming 25 club socials. The first will be at Springs Preserve on November 17th.
  • President David Thorson fined President-Elect Michael Gordon for successfully completing the New York City Marathon.
  • Janice Lencke announced that the car show committee has $11,000 raised through sponsorships for the upcoming 2nd Annual Las Vegas Rotary “Cars for a Cause” Car Show on April 23, 2017.
  • Ted McAdam invited all the Veterans in the room to stand up and be recognized for Veterans Day and the club gave them a rousing round of applause.
  • Ted McAdam introduced the speaker, Brigadier General Jeannie Leavitt, who shared several stories about veterans of the U.S. Air Force. She discussed the B-21 Raider and how it is named in honor of the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo on Saturday, April 18, 1942 with just enough fuel to make it to Japan. Most of the Raiders landed in China and were smuggled to safety by the Chinese Forces.
  • President David Thorson presented the General with the Sole Power Award.
  • The Palo Verde High School JROTC Color Guard retired the colors and President David Thorson adjourned the meeting.


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