Community Service Award
Members of NAIOP Southern Nevada Community Service committee have gone to great lengths to serve others during this challenging year.
According to Community Service Chairwoman Patti Dillon, NAIOP members have donated thousands of dollars in food, clothing, hygiene products and school supplies to homeless teens, senior citizens, at-risk youth and medically fragile children throughout Southern Nevada this year. They have also volunteered hundreds of hours of their time.
For many years, NAIOP Southern Nevada has organized and executed community service projects that benefit local nonprofits, including CASA Foundation Las Vegas, Communities In Schools of Nevada, Helping Hands of Vegas Valley, Hollingsworth Elementary School, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Street Teens, St. Jude’s Ranch for Children and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas.
Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the committee to get more creative and to reframe its service projects, while still providing volunteer opportunities for members. So far in 2021, NAIOP members have volunteered 199 hours to nonprofits throughout Southern Nevada. In 2020 NAIOP volunteer hours totaled nearly 1,300 hours including 720 hours at the renovation project at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children and 156 hours working on the Communities in Schools Thanksgiving event.
For example, committee members designed a different delivery plan for their Communities in Schools Thanksgiving meal project. Instead of the 24 families picking up the decorated holiday meal box from school, committee members personally delivered a complete Thanksgiving meal and a grocery gift card to each family’s home. Communities in Schools recognized NAIOP’s commitment to their mission by awarding their “Community Volunteer Group” award to NAIOP Southern Nevada at their “Power Within” event in May.
And, NAIOP’s support for Make-A-Wish was provided virtually this year through the “What would you do for a Make-A-Wish donation” challenge. A record-setting $14,000 was raised, nearly tripling the $5,000 goal for 2021. Committee members sang bravely, ate bugs, had pies and eggs thrown at them and endured strenuous workouts, all to raise money for this cause.
Photo Caption:
Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada Executive Director Cheri Ward (second from left) presented NAIOP Southern Nevada 2021 Board President David Strickland (right), Community Service Committee Chairwoman Patti Dillon and Chris Teachman, Community Service Committee Past Chairman, with their “Community Volunteer Group” award.
