The Wheel for July 20, 2017

by Jul 27, 2017The Wheel0 comments

The Wheel


Robin Bernhard – The Syria Fund

Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, few who knew Robin Bernhard would have guessed his penchant for travel and adventure. After graduating from Ohio University with a degree in Education, he moved to Madrid, Spain to teach English and write for Frommer’s Travel Guide to Madrid. He spent nearly two years backpacking across 25 countries from Europe, through North Africa, the Middle East to India and Nepal.

Apparently not just bitten by the travel bug, but fully infected by one, his first job upon returning to the U.S was as a “trip leader” for an adventure travel company called “Backroads.” In this role, he spent four years designing and leading trips all over the U.S,

Italy and Costa Rica.
Finding that adventure didn’t only come at the cost of a plane ticket, he left the travel industry to wander, totally unqualified, into the world of IT and training with Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco. Four years later, he was hired to manage online services at Microsoft and train Microsoft sales teams in product positioning. Four years later, he was recruited to the training team of IGT in Las Vegas.

As he was recalibrating his nose for adventure, and developing his business in 2015, he took the opportunity to travel to Turkey. There, he saw firsthand
how citizens across Syria and other countries are being displaced by violence which is literally landing them on the streets of any country to which they can flee.

Some months later, he volunteered to travel to Jordan with The Syria Fund to help in their work setting up educational programs for Syrian children. Now well-positioned with his speaking and training company, he continues to volunteer by leveraging his voice to help this worthy cause shine a light
on the Syrian tragedy, as well as align corporate funds and donations to their educational programs.

Message From The President

Thank You!

We wanted to share with you the results of your sponsorship for the fall 2016 in this report. Our most exciting news to share with you though is that Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada was officially gifted the Finance Park Mobile Unit at the end of this past run. What does this mean for our community? It now means that with your continued support we will be able to grow the operating days and reach even more students! In order to do that we will be opening next time in January 2018. This way we have more days with students in school to expand into. We plan to expand by at least 5 more days which will be approximately 500 more kids impacted! We are hopeful
you will continue to be our partner as we expand the program.

3,905
Students
__________________
15 Schools
473 Volunteers
44 Teachers
___________
96%
Students who participated
from low-income
communities
____________________
12.6%
Growth in 1 year

January 2018
Finance Park Reopens

THANK YOU!
LAS VEGAS
ROTARY CLUB
Student Training
Room Sponsor

Member Highlights

Scribe – July 13, 2017

  • President Michael Gordon called the meeting to order.
  • Ted McAdam gave the invocation. Sidra Kain led the club in singing “God Bless America.” Joan Murdock led the club in reciting the Four Way Test. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and the Sergeant-at-Arms was Mike Ballard.
  • There were (3) International Rotarians, (5) Visiting Rotarians, and (7) Guests of Rotarians that were introduced.
  • The drawing began at $9,561.00 plus this week’s donations. The winner gets half the pot and half goes to the Las Vegas Rotary Foundation. Ticket Winner: Bill Stieren who won $10! Lawry Bucks Winner: Jaime Goldsmith.
  • PP Jim Hunt shared his experience delivering a new wheelchair. The recipient previously received a wheelchair from our club, but the current wheelchair was in disrepair and she desperately needed a new wheelchair. The Las Vegas Rotary Club was happy to help! There are still wheelchairs available if any member knows of a needy recipient.
  • Kirk Holmes announced both web and print advertising opportunities.
  • Rosalee Hedrick inducted new member Michael Dugan.
  • Janice Lencke announced a call for car show committee members.
  • Melanie Muldowny announced that Beckley Elementary needs cans for their “Canstruction” project.
  • Erik Astramecki announced that the UNLV tailgate party is September 30, 2017.
  • President Michael Gordon reminded the club that the Shakespeare Festival is August 26, 2017 and Nancy Slitz is hosting a brunch.
  • David Squire announced that the Highway Clean Up will be on October 7.
  • Erik Astramecki announced that we will be planting trees at the Alpine Picnic on July 22, 2017.
  • Jackie Thornhill announced that the next Wetzel awards ceremony will be held on September 7, 2017 at Nellis AFB.
  • Tom Axtell announced that volunteers are needed for the upcoming Vegas PBS telethon at 6pm on August 10, 2017.
  • Mike Ballard introduced the speaker, Mike Rosten, CPA, CFE and Certified Fraud Examiner. Mike detailed the red flags for fraud detection amongst employees: 1) Living beyond one’s means, 2) Financial difficulties and family issues such as gambling, 3) Unusually close association with vendors, 4) Control issues and unwillingness to share duties, and 4) Unscrupulous behavior.
  • President Michael Gordon presented the speaker with a “Sole Power” award and adjourned the meeting.


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