ML - Vegas Magazine

Vegas - 2015 - Issue 2 - Late Spring

Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.

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Charity register Opportunities to give. LAS VEGAS HEART BALL This year's Las Vegas Heart Ball pays tribute to 25 years of life-saving work in Clark County by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. Proceeds from the event—featuring gourmet food, music, and an auction—will help fund research seeking advances in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke, expand community education initiatives, and raise awareness about the effects of childhood obesity. When: Saturday, April 11, at 5:30 pm Where: Four Seasons Hotel Contact: 702-367-1366; lvheartball.org AIDS WALK LAS VEGAS Hosted by grand marshals Penn Jillette and Teller, this annual philanthropic walk benefts the far-reaching efforts of Aid for AIDS of Nevada, whose programs run the gamut from preventive education and community outreach to client social services, counseling, and rent and transportation assistance. After the walk, enjoy a picnic with the thousands of participants who turn out to lend their support. When: Sunday, April 19, at 8 am Where: Town Square Contact: 702-382-2326; afanlv.org BEST IN SHOW At the Animal Foundation's one-of-a-kind arena event, more than 50 lost or abandoned dogs compete for the title of "best in show." The best part of all? All of the dogs are adoptable, and proceeds from the event beneft the shelter in its mission to rescue and fnd homes for lost, unwanted, and abandoned local pets. A VIP brunch, silent auction, and vendor fair complete the festivities. When: Sunday, April 26, at 11 am Where: Orleans Arena Contact: 702-384-3333; animalfoundation.com SUSAN G. KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE Celebrating its 20th year in Southern Nevada, the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure remains one of the breast cancer community's leading fundraising events—not to mention the largest nonproft footrace in all of Nevada. Expect live entertainment, public speak- ers, games, and kid-friendly activities in addition to the race, which raises funds for cancer research, education, screenings, and treatment programs. When: Saturday, May 2, at 8:15 am Where: Downtown Las Vegas Contact: 702-822-2324; komensouthernnevada.org left: Byrne at the Bracken Elementary School Art Fair & Farmers Market. right: Two students enjoy the farmers market at John S. Park Elementary. launched Green Our Planet. A lthough their aim was to eventua lly prov ide a n inter nat iona l plat- for m to crowd f u nd a l l ma n ner of eco -m i nded projects (and anyone can now use the site to do just that), the pair wanted to start locally. "Then Bryan [Vellinga] at Garden Farms came to us and said, 'Hey, I heard you have this g reen crowdfunding platform and you're looking for proj- ects, and I have school principals who want gardens but have no money,'" Byrne says. So t hey went to t he Sh i rley a nd Bi l l Wa l l i n E lement a r y School in Henderson w it h Vellinga and made a short film about the benefits a garden can provide. School gardens have been linked to improved behav ior a nd test scores a nd offer a n excellent way to teach subject s like science a nd nutrition, all while giving students access to natu- ral light and daily exercise. Within five weeks, they had ra ised $7, 50 0, a nd Vellinga got to work on building the first of their gardens. "Then our fifth garden, at Myrtle Tate Elementary School, raised no money at all and we didn't know why," By r ne says. "The pr incipa l expla ined t hat more t ha n 8 0 percent of her st udent s were low- income and that their parents probably didn't have computers. K im a nd I t hought , T hat 's not fa ir. These kids deserve a garden just as much." They discovered that more than 60 percent of schools in the Clark County School District, including Myrtle Tate, are designated Title I—institutions with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students—and decided they needed to find financial sponsors for those schools. For Myrtle Tate, they enlisted NV Energy. Since then, Green Our Planet has helped 57 schools in and around Las Vegas raise money for ga rdens (w it h eight more f undra ising campaigns currently under way). Their dozens of cor porate pa r t ners now i nclude W hole Foods Market, Lowe's, Cosmopolitan, Wynn Resorts, and Honda. Chefs from Vegas resorts work with the stu- dents to help them put their harvests to good use, and Byrne and MacQuarrie have worked with teach- ers to draft state-approved curricula that include experiential science and running a farmers market. Although they didn't set out to bring school gar- dens to the area, MacQuarrie describes their efforts using the same term that Las Vegas's Mayor Carolyn Goodman often employs in discussing the achieve- ments of Downtown Project: "collective impact." "We are the accidental collective-impact propo- nents," he says. "We decided we wanted to have a plat for m, so t hen we had to f ind a Web person, and then we realized you can't just build a garden, you need curricula, so we found those guys. Then we needed chefs a nd fou nd t hem. A nd t hen Switch gave us office space. So before you know it, we've harnessed all these different resources that a lways ex isted i n Vega s a nd cha n neled t hem toward a collective impact on this issue. We're not creating these resources, but when you start con- nect ing t hem, suddenly t here's t his miraculous result." greenourplanet.org V "We are the accidental collective- impact proponents." —kim macquarrie vegasmagazine.com  53

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