January's General Meeting

( (Pictured Above L to R: Marieta Vasileva, Amanda Hurst, and Lauren Holden)

The meeting in January was a highly productive one for the Rotaract Club of Las Vegas! On Sunday January 25th, the Rotaract Club had several great moments happen. First and foremost, the Rotaract Club of Las Vegas was very happy to induct four new members. Lauren Holden, Valentina Vasileva, Marieta Vasileva, and Erica Kemper are the four newest members in the Rotaract Club! Each member received a membership certificate and a copy of the 4-way Test.

In addition to the many upcoming service events the Rotaract Club has in store, the Rotaract Club was fortunate enough to have their founding President Michael Gordon as a guest speaker. Michael shared some of his experiences as a GSE and Ambassadorial Scholar. He also talked to the club about public speaking. Those in attendance were asked to give a minute and a half impromptu speech on various topics! The club did a GREAT job without having previously practice their speeches. In honor of Michael's speaking engagment, the club presented him with a ceritifcate of appreciation. This mentions that a contribution to polio plus has been made in honor of Michael.

(Pictured Above L to R: Hope presenting the banner to Amanda Hurst)

The Club was also very fortunate to receive a banner from our inbound Cultural Exchange Scholar Hope. She comes from Taiwan and is in America to better her English skills until March. The meeting also brought in a flag presentation from the United States troops! Karen Whisenhunt presented an America flag that was flown in Iraq in honor of the Rotaract Club of Las Vegas during the summer.

Winter Works

Over the course of the winter months, the Rotaract Club has been busy! In November, they donated a check to the Rotary International for Polio research. On November 12, 2008, the club presented a $300 check to the District Governor Gene Hernandez. The money goes towards the funding and research of polio in an effort to completely eradicate the world of polio.
Additionally, the club had their first holiday party, hosted by Maureen Mckinley. Some of the members got together to have some dinner and enjoy one another's company before the winter holidays.


On December 4th, 2008 the group took place in the annual Santa Clothes sponsored by local Rotary clubs. This is a special event that lets kids from at-risk schools go 1-on-1 shopping with volunteers. The kids get a budget of $133. The kids are all so grateful and have a blast getting to shop on Rotary's dime. It is a truly humbling experience for everyone who participates.

The last set of wheelchairs was donated to the Salvation Army and Disabled American Vets on the first Friday of December. This was the second time that the club was able to donate wheelchairs to a local Las Vegas organization.

Tons of Tabs

The Las Vegas Rotaract was at it yet again. Continuing in their ongoing program to collect pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, they donated another VERY LARGE batch on Friday October 3rd.
The project originally started in November of 2007 with the hopes of donating once or twice a year. By letting family members know about the program and encouraging them to save as well, the project grew fast. Eventually, after President-Elect Nikki went home to ask her town for pop tabs, she collected over 5,000 pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. In their first donation in January 2008, the club donated 5,000 plus tabs to the Ronald McDonald House of Greater Las Vegas.

Since the beginning of school, the Rotaract Club has promoted the pop tab program with family members, friends, on campus, and through their sponsoring Rotary Clubs that they were collecting again. Thanks to a Rotarian who had been collecting for years with her co-workers, the Rotaract Club received over 9,000 pop tabs. The club was able to outdue their first donation by almost double.
The project will continue to go on and will still be considered a traditional program for the Rotaract Club. They will most likely start to make it an annual donation instead of every couple of months.

Sweet Success

The Las Vegas Rotaract has been very busy spreading the word about their club. On Tuesday August 26th and Wednesday August 27th, the Las Vegas Rotaract hosted two informational sessions for students on the UNLV campus. The purpose of the informational sessions was to share some of the many service projects the club has been involved with in the past year and a half and how prospective members can get drawn in. The future plan for Rotaract is to visit the Community College of Southern Nevada as well as Nevada State College with information on the Las Vegas Rotaract in order to get more community members.

In an effort to get more members and people interested in community service, the Rotaract club took place in an involvement fair. This is a two day event where any on-campus and off-campus organization sets up a booth for general information. The Las Vegas Rotaract had many people stop by and ask what they are all about. The Rotaractors were proud to share some of the projects they have been involved with as well as encourage people to receive e-mails for dates and descriptions of upcoming events and meetings.

Not only has the Las Vegas Rotaract been busy with informational sessions and blood drives, but they also hosted a dessert social on Wednesday September 17th titled ‘How Sweet it is to be in Rotaract’. In place of having a general meeting, the members opted to have desserts such as ice cream, brownies, cookies, and cakes and make it an informal meeting/informational session for anybody and everybody. Similarly to the informational sessions, the club had brochures, membership applications, and upcoming community service dates readily available for all who attended. Everybody left with fuller bellies and information on how they can get involved with the club.

Besides being busy with recruitment, the Las Vegas Rotaract has been planning a possible fundraising competition and the logistics of how they are going to give to Polio plus. The hard work that the club has been putting in is paying off rather nicely as they have been receiving worthy recognition in the community and on the UNLV campus. The next few months may be busy for the club but will turn into great payoffs in the end.

How sweet it is to be in Rotaract

The Las Vegas Rotaract is hosting a FREE dessert social for anybody and everybody! The event will take place on Wednesday September 17th @ 8 PM in the Tonopah Conference Room (on UNLV campus).

The desserts will be cookies, cakes, brownies, and ice cream and those who attend will not only receive free dessert but also a free giveaway just for showing up! Those who attend will receive some brochures about what Rotaract is and find out about what the Las Vegas Rotaract has done the past year and a half!

Rotaract and Circle K Blood Drive

The Las Vegas Rotaract is very excited to be co-sponsoring their first ever blood drive! This will be taking place at the UNLV Premier event held every year. This year, the event is taking place on Thursday August 28th. Rotaract and Circle K are proud to be working with United Blood Services in an effort to continue the UNLV vs. UNR blood battle. The United Blood Services van will be on campus from 3 pm -7pm!

In order to build the bridge between Rotaract and Circle K, the two organizations have been working closely over the summer months to really get the blood drive in full swing! Many flyers have been handed out in anticipation of a highly successful blood drive! This is the first time a blood drive has been sponsored at UNLV Premier and will hopefully become a part of the UNLV tradition!

Welcoming a new Rotary year

Amanda Hurst, senior at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, is the incoming President for the 2008-2009 Rotary year for the Las Vegas Rotaract. A charter member, Amanda has enthusiastically been involved with LV Rotaract since its charter date in April 2007.

Amanda has spent most of her life in the Mid-west (Illinois) but considers herself quite the city girl as some of her favorite places are Chicago, Los Angeles, Barcelona, and the new addition of Boston. Amanda considers her family to be the most important part of her life as she has two younger siblings that she calls her pride and joy. For her year as the President of LV Rotaract, Amanda has goals of raising at least $1,000 for Polioplus as well as raise close to $500, if not more, for malaria nets in Papau New Guinea. Some of the incoming board members have been active helping Amanda create innovative ways to fund raise and meet with the local Rotary clubs throughout the year. Busy with scheduling club visits/presentations, Amanda prides herself on trying to get the 'word out' about Rotaract and to be taken seriously.

Nikki Pintar is the incoming President-Elect of the Las Vegas Rotaract. A junior, majoring in Nursing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Nikki is excited about what the upcoming year will bring. Nikki is from Ely, Nevada. A small town about four hours away from Las Vegas. Her small town background didn't stop her from getting her whole town together in support of the Ronald McDonald House pop tab program that the Las Vegas Rotaract adopted as a project. While away on break, Nikki collected thousands of pop tabs and returned to Las Vegas to donate them to the Ronald McDonald House of Greater Las Vegas.

Nikki is also a charter member of the Las Vegas Rotaract and is in full support of the upcoming fundraisers and many other ideas that seem to be pouring out of the club members. Some of these ideas include Rotaract buttons and the possibility of a co-op blood drive with the UNLV Circle K.

With the enthusiasm and drive of these two young ladies as well as the support of the club members and district Rotary clubs, the Las Vegas Rotaract has a promising future ahead.