LOOKING FOR A GOOD CAUSE FOR “GIVING TUESDAY”?
OK, on Thanksgiving Thursday we gorge on turkey and stuffing (and football).
Then comes Black Friday, a shoppers’ day primarily at the big box and chain retailers.
Which is followed by Small Business Saturday, when we’re encouraged to buy from local merchants (in between college football games!).
On Sunday, of course, we rest (and watch more football!).
And that’s followed by Cyber Monday (today, including Monday Night Football!), when all the online retailers get a whack at our wallets.
But tomorrow is a new, very special day - Giving Tuesday - “a campaign to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season” (without football!).
I hadn’t heard of “Giving Tuesday” until this weekend, but it sounds like an excellent idea. And if you’d like to participate, I humbly have an excellent suggestion for your consideration…
Reynaldo Martinez Elementary School is located in North Las Vegas and has an enrollment of 695 students - of which, according to Principal Tim Adams, 10 percent are homeless and 100 percent are living in poverty based on federal standards.
Now here’s something I didn’t know: Public schools have the option of being a “uniform” or “non-uniform” facility. The benefit of going “uniform” is that all the kids wear the same thing so there’s no competition among peers to wear the latest and greatest (and expensive) fashions of the day.
Reynaldo Martinez is a “uniform” school. However, the school district does not pay for the uniforms, and many of the parents at this particular school can’t afford food, let alone the $12-15 for the school uniforms – especially since kids grow out of them so fast.
“School needs are usually the last thought of by a family in poverty,” wrote Principal Adams in an email. “School uniforms and school supplies are not basic needs, but they are needed.”
Enter Bobby and Sandy Ellis.
Mr. & Mrs. Ellis are very generous Las Vegans who have led numerous private efforts to help those in need who have difficulty helping themselves…including UNLV’s football team!
Just kidding, Bobby. Just kidding.
But seriously, a month ago Bobby and Sandy set out to raise $20,000 from friends and associates to help buy uniforms and other school supplies for kids at Reynaldo Martinez – including food for students in need on weekends.
And in an email I received from Bobby on Saturday, they have so far raised $15,600…including my own personal donation to this wonderful effort.
Which leaves them just $4,400 short of their goal.
So if you’re looking for a really good cause to support tomorrow for “Giving Tuesday,” might I respectfully suggest this ad hoc project.
We’re not the government. We’re not a charity. We’re not a church. We’re not a community organization.
We’re just a bunch of individual Nevadans and Nevada companies pitching in to fill a need and help some of our fellow Nevadans because…well, because it’s a good idea being organized by a good and decent man.
So if you’re so disposed tomorrow, whip out the ol’ checkbook – if there’s anything left in it after this weekend! – and make your check in any amount payable to:
Reynaldo Martinez Elementary School
c/o Bobby Ellis
979 Camelia Drive
Henderson, NV 89011.
BONUS!
And for anyone in the Las Vegas* area who donates $500 or more, I’ll come to your home and shovel the snow off your sidewalk for the entire month of December! I mean, how could you possibly turn down a deal like that, right?!!
Thank you all for your kind consideration.
P.S. By the way and in case you didn’t know, the day after tomorrow is “Chuck Muth Wednesday.” I think you all know what to do.
* (Offer not valid in the Mt. Charleston area or at any other elevation above 1,000 feet)
DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS
* Since the baker’s union bosses apparently think they know better how to run and manage Hostess and pay its workers gold-plated salaries plus benefits, why don’t THEY buy the company out of bankruptcy, put their 18,000 members back to work and show us all how it’s done?
* It is easy to make a campaign promise that you won’t raise taxes when there are no tax increase proposals on the radar screen. We separate the men from the boys, so to speak, when serious efforts to raise taxes are on the table. That’s when Gumby Republicans show their true colors, including fair weather tax hawks who morph into wishy-washy chickens once the heat gets turned up. (See: Sen. Lindsey Graham)
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“It's something called principles. We can't keep on blindly supporting what R's do. We want to be the county party that holds our representatives accountable. … I'm not writing off that we're going to support Gov. Sandoval, but we're going to hold him accountable. We haven't even heard from the governor and that's also been hard." – Clark County Republican Party Chairwoman Cindy Lake, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 12/25/12
MOUNT REAGAN PROJECT UPDATE
Please sign our online petition supporting the establishment of an official “Mount Reagan” in Nevada. Click here
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