The Wheel for May 16, 2019

by May 16, 2019The Wheel0 comments

Listen to Kathi Thomas-Gibson – The Courtyard Homeless Resource Center

The Wheel


Kathi Thomas-Gibson – 

The Courtyard Homeless Resource Center

kathi gibson wheel las vegas rotaryKathi Thomas-Gibson addresses comprehensive community initiatives as the Director for the Office of Community Services for the City of Las Vegas. In this role Ms. Thomas-Gibson oversees key projects addressing homelessness, affordable housing development, education, youth services, neighborhood revitalization, and services for special needs populations.

Ms. Thomas-Gibson has more than 25 years of experience implementing federal grants programs including Community Development Block Grants, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, Welfare-to-Work, and other special purpose programs for at-risk communities. She is often a convener of key stakeholders and has successfully addressed complex, longstanding problems through collaborative leadership approaches. Ms. Thomas-Gibson has worked in both the not-for-profit and public sectors to enhance meaningful change in service delivery systems so that programs are efficient and effective.

Ms. Thomas-Gibson has been an adjunct instructor and frequent lecturer for higher education systems in Nevada and California. Her area of focus is leadership and management, with an emphasis on community engagement strategies. She has a Master’s in Public Administration and received her Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Message From The President

Dear Rotarians,

Given the number of years she has been visiting us, I think Katie Decker beat Murray from Calgary as the person who has visited our Club the most.  Today marks a milestone transition for her.  Today is Katie’s last visit to our Club as a guest.  Please join me in wishing Katie well in her “retirement.”  I put retirement in quotes because she is not retiring to go play golf.  Katie decided to take her talents to CitiSim, a project that she spoke to us about several weeks ago.  While Katie will not be joining us a guest any longer, I am happy to report that she will be joining us a member of the Club as soon as we can induct her.     

For quite some time, Katie has joined us on the second week of each month.  Our long time partnership with Katie and her schools allowed her to see the various events and projects that we supported and participated in at her schools, in community and in the world.  When it came time to ask her to join, the Club had already sold itself as a worth activity.  

The members of this Club have been blessed with an abundance of resources.  Your friends and peers are similarly situated and are looking for meaningful ways to give back to the community and beyond.  I can’t encourage you enough to invite your friends to attend Club meetings, and more importantly Club social events and Projects so that they can see how much fun it is to be a Rotarian.  Invite a friend to join us for lunch and an event.  Help President Elect Jackie meet her goal of growing the Club to 150 active members.  Give the gift of Rotary to the world.m!

Jim Kohl
95th President
Rotary Club of Las Vegas

Member Highlights

Scribe – May 9, 2019

Las Vegas Rotary Club Meeting:  May 9, 2019

President Jim called the meeting to order.  Rose Falocco gave the invocation.  Scott Goodhearts (sp) led the club in singing God Bless America, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  The Sergeant at Arms was Michael Cudiamat:

  • President Jim encouraged members to share the live stream of our meeting on social media to share our message and our Club with others;
  • There were (4) International Rotarians, (0) visiting Rotarians and (1) Guests of Rotarians introduced; Richard Jost exchanged banners with Anders Norln of Rotary Taby, Sweden, and with Nicholas Duncan of RC of Port Nicholson, New Zealand;
  • President Jim’s announced our Club won the Governor’s Bell again, the first club to do so back-to-back, which was a close race with another club and the tie-breaker was our Club turning dues in on a timely manner, credit to Shawn Noorda; Francesca Gilbert announced that Natalie Gilbert, who our Club selected to represent us, won the District level 4-Way Speech Contest;
  • Janice Lencke and PE Jackie Thornhill updated us on the Cuisine & Octane success: as we kept expenses low thanks to our generous sponsors (such as our longtime partners Craig Miller and Anderson-Miller-Pinkelman) and vendors we raised $18,600 (close to the goal of $20,000, it’s not too late to donate) which goes in to next year’s budget during PE Jackie’s presidency, and we recognized the Annual Fundraiser Committee for their hard work;
  • Shannon Brown, Beckley Elementary School principal, thanked the Rotarians who helped at Beckley Field Day last week, and announced she had $3 tickets for the school children’s performance of the Jungle Book at 5:30 pm and on 5/10 at the same time; PP Karen Whisenhunt reminded members of the approaching family-friendly Golf Putting Tournament on 5/19 11 am-2 pm at Angel Park Golf Club, we currently have about 75 golfers (of which about 23 are children) and more sponsors and golfers welcome – no experience necessary;
  • PE Jackie Thornhill announced: please sign up for committees by 5/31 so the Board can also select committee chairs; the match of up to 50% for the Paul Harris fellowship ends 6/30, and Brenda Cressey, Rotary Foundation International Chair, on 7/11 will be the guest speaker and will present Paul Harris awards that day; Joakim Nyoni discussed the event to serve community dinner at the LV Rescue Mission on 5/28 at 4:15 pm; PP/AG Michael Gordon discussed the huge party 6/27 at Angel Park for President Jim’s debunking, involving more water than ever;
  • President Jim called on Glenn Meier to discuss his recently published law article, and for being an unpaid author he would make a $200 donation; then PP Randy Donald explained his experience at the Kentucky Derby with Sally Donald, and as PP Randy had won some money his fine was $400; PP Tom Krob, who along with his wife Jane was at the Kentucky Derby with the Donalds, also had won some money and his fine was $200; Joakim Nyoni explained the picture that PP Steve Linder had taken of him at the District Conference, Joakim saying that he couldn’t keep up with PP Steve and Janet Linder’s partying during a cigar social late night, and so he was selected to make a $200 donation;
  • The weekly drawing began at $645 plus this week’s donations. The Ticket Winner was Aaron Overton, who received a prize of $50 with the card he pulled, and the Lawry’s Bucks winner was Bob Barnard, and winner of the bonus prize (a Rotary frame for a car license plate) was PP/AG Michael Gordon;
  • Francesca Gilbert introduced our program speaker Brett Lashbrook of the Las Vegas Lights Football Club;
  • President Jim presented our speaker with a “Share What You Can” award to benefit a veteran in need and adjourned the meeting.

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