Nevada Volunteers invites you to join us for the 2014 Governor's Points of Light Awards to recognize inspiring Nevadans and Nevada organizations on September 18, 2014 at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The Governor's Points of Light Awards Ceremony…
The Governor's Points of Light Awards recognize Nevadans for their dedication, innovation, and leadership in making Nevada a better place to live through volunteerism. It is the highest honor bestowed by Nevada Volunteers and the State. Its purpose is to…
With the 2014 Governor's Points of Light Award nomination process open, we wanted to take a moment to recognize past recipients and highlight their continued success in making Nevada a better place to live through volunteerism. This week, we are…
Governor Brian Sandoval revealed this year’s recipients on Friday, January 18th, during the Governor’s Points of Light Awards luncheon, which was held in conjunction with the Volunteer and Corporate Engagement Summit. Nevada Volunteers is proud to be able to recognize some of the inspiring and incredible volunteer efforts that are happening in the Silver State!
Southern Nevada Individual: Raquel O’Neill
Though she has no sight, she certainly has a vision. There seem to be no barriers to Raquel O’Neill’s mission to make a difference in her community. She is a new mother, she works fulltime with university students with disabilities, she mentors blind youth, and she works tirelessly to empower Nevadans with vision loss. Raquel identified a gap in services for blind and visually impaired youth. She set out to fill the unmet needs for training by enlisting volunteers to help. She developed and implemented a 60-hour blindness skills training program for youth ages 15-20. The program provides intensive training in daily living skills, cane travel, communication, Braille, and advocacy, and is the only one like it in Nevada. By utilizing skilled volunteers and those who live with vision loss, she is able to provide this program at no charge to the participants. (more…)
Each year, Nevada Volunteers is overwhelmed by the amount of nominations and the inspiring stories submitted for the Governor’s Points of Light Awards. Our distinguished panel of judges selected the following three finalists for this year. These three individuals will be honored at the awards luncheon on January 18, 2013, and the recipient of the category will be announced. Congratulations to the finalists and thank you for your service to our communities!
Volunteer Manager Finalists for the
2013 Governor’s Points of Light Awards
Sharon Harding (Las Vegas)
Sharon Harding, Volunteer Program Coordinator, oversees the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Metro Volunteer Program (MVP), which currently has over 450 volunteers. During the last fiscal year MVP volunteers contributed 157,000 hours of service. A large portion of their successful is due to Sharon’s follow up with volunteers to make sure that they are well trained and happy in the areas that they are serving. (more…)
Each year, Nevada Volunteers is overwhelmed by the amount of nominations and the inspiring stories submitted for the Governor’s Points of Light Awards. Our distinguished panel of judges selected the following three finalists for this year. These three individuals will be honored at the awards luncheon on January 18, 2013, and the recipient of the category will be announced. Congratulations to the finalists and thank you for your service to our communities!
Rural Nevada Individual Finalists for the
2013 Governor’s Points of Light Awards
Nancy Barrett (Incline Village)
Nancy Barrett has served with the Northern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross for two years, and it constantly working to make the community safer. During the Caughlin and Washoe Drive fires, she helped manage the shelters and ensured that hundreds of evacuees had a safe place to go. Along with the rest of the mass care team, Nancy helped to conduct shelter surveys in all of Washoe County, Douglas County, and Carson City. She became the DSAC (Disaster Services Advisory Committee) Co-Chair, where she leads the Red Cross chapter’s disaster services and advises volunteers on how we can be better prepared. Nancy is also the Mass Care Co-Lead, which is responsible for our sheltering, feeding, and reunification services during a disaster. Nancy recently traveled to New Jersey to help Red Cross respond to Super Storm Sandy. She was also recently recognized as one of Glamour’s women of the year in New York City. Nancy works tirelessly every day to ensure to safety of everyone around her, whether she is home in Nevada or on disaster assignment in New Jersey. Her passion for the mission of the Red Cross motivates everyone around her. (more…)
Each year, Nevada Volunteers is overwhelmed by the amount of nominations and the inspiring stories submitted for the Governor’s Points of Light Awards. Our distinguished panel of judges selected the following three finalists for this year. These three individuals will be honored at the awards luncheon on January 18, 2013, and the recipient of the category will be announced. Congratulations to the finalists and thank you for your service to our communities!
Northern Nevada Individual Finalists for the
2013 Governor’s Points of Light Awards
Steve Burns
Steve Burns has been a volunteer with the Washoe County School District since January of 2011. Since that time, Steve has offered 1680 total hours tutoring Algebra students at Vaughn Middle School five days a week, five class periods a day. Said one parent of a student Steve has tutored, “Kids used to make fun of her and even teachers would say my daughter couldn’t do it. Now she’s confident in herself and is in the GATE program. He changed her entire life. My daughter is now talking about preparing to apply to competitive colleges, something she never thought of doing before.” After a rewarding career, Steve found even greater pleasure in tutoring students and seeing them achieve results they didn’t think were possible. He says that at the age of 65, he has finally found his calling. (more…)