On behalf of the Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation, Southern Highlands Community Association and Olympia Companies, Rick Rexius, Sara Gilliam and Angela Rock presented their donation of $15,500 to representatives from Nellis and Creech Air Force Base’s Operation Warm Heart (in red shirts) MSgts Jeffrey Johnson, Tameacca Harris, Robert Akers and Jonathan Baysa. The donation represents funds raised at this year’s Southern Highlands Memorial Day celebration.

100 percent of funds collected at community’s annual Memorial Day celebration supports  local military families at Nellis & Creech Air Force Base

Since 2007, Foundation has raised more than $177K to help local airmen in need

LAS VEGAS, NV—Continuing its mission to aid families in need throughout the Las Vegas community, the Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation presented a check for $15,500 on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 to Nellis and Creech Air Force Base’s Operation Warm Heart, a private, non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to local airmen and their families.

The funds, raised at the master-planned community’s annual Memorial Day celebration, will go toward Operation Warm Heart initiatives that support the health, morale and welfare of the airmen of the Nellis and Creech military community, such as random acts of kindness and financial assistance for personal hardships and family emergencies not covered by other Air Force programs.

Hosted by the Southern Highlands Community Association, the Memorial Day celebration is free of charge to event attendees, with all funds collected through food and beverage sales going directly to support Operation Warm Heart.

This year marks the tenth consecutive year that the celebration has served as a fundraiser for Operation Warm Heart. According to Garry Goett, president/CEO of Olympia Companies and founder of the Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation, this relationship is a natural one.

“The foundation first initiated Southern Highlands’ annual Memorial Day celebration in 2004 as a remembrance of our fallen heroes in the Armed Forces,” says Goett. “Three years later, we recognized an opportunity for this event to not only honor the memory of those who have served our country but to also support the brave members of our community and their families who are currently serving in the military.”

Since then, the foundation’s partnership with Operation Warm Heart has expanded beyond Memorial Day to include an annual winter festival and holiday tree-lighting extravaganza, where community members are invited to make monetary donations or donate children’s toys. One hundred percent of proceeds from this event also go to support Nellis and Creech’s Operation Warm Heart.

In 2016, the Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation was nominated for the Armed Forces Spirit of Hope Award for its dedication to local men and women in the Armed Forces. Since 2007, the foundation has raised more than $177,000 to support Operation Warm Heart and assist local military members and their families. For more information, visit https://olympiacompanies.com/sh-charitable-foundation/.

A costume contest, pumpkin patch (with $2 pumpkins—beat that!), trick or treating, music, food, games, raffle prizes and more made for a fun afternoon at this year’s Southern Highlands Fall Festival, held Saturday, October 21. For more than ten years, the annual celebration has been a signature Southern Highlands event and special highlight of the year, drawing an estimated 4,000 visitors from the community and throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

The four-hour-long festival has also become a major community fundraiser. While the event is free to attend, all funds collected through the sale of food, beverage, raffle tickets—and this year, more than a thousand pumpkins—go to support local nonprofit organizations. This year, the festival raised an estimated $15,000 to benefit Andson, which aims to teach children financial literacy, as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Highlands.

Organized by the Southern Highlands Community Association at Goett Family Park, the Fall Festival also features face painting, bounce houses and slides, coloring contests, a vendor fair, arts and crafts and more to delight kids of all ages and provide family-friendly fun that makes residents glad to call Southern Highlands home.

Following the One October Tragedy, Olympia Companies rallies partners to

create a tranquil private retreat to help the coroner’s office heal.

“We couldn’t have done this without you,” Clark County coroner John Fudenberg announced to Angela Rock, a representative of the Olympia Companies and Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation on Thursday, November 30, at the dedication of a new tranquility garden. The Foundation stepped forward to help coroner workers find healing in the wake of One October.

Through personal connections, Angela Rock, the Foundation’s Executive Director, learned of the trauma the coroner’s office endured on October 1st—days of limited sleep as they moved through the festival ground turned crime scene, examining and identifying the bodies of the 58 victims before delivering devastating news to loved ones.

Quickly, the Foundation engaged Par3 Landscape Management and its key suppliers SYNLawn of Nevada and Arizona Pavers to donate the time, labor, and materials necessary to construct the 50 x 15 space, which features artificial grass, benches for quiet reflection and a mural printed by Patrick Signs depicting the words “Vegas Strong” over a silhouette of the city skyline.

Led by Par3 COO Kam Brian, the transition from barren space to garden took just three days.

A large window at the end of the garden looks into a peaceful meditation room coroner John Fudenberg created weeks ago, where members of his team are offered guided meditation sessions with world-renowned instructor Debra Apsara. Apsara, who has traveled to India more than twenty times for training, leads meditation for coroner workers four times a day and anticipates moving her sessions outside to the garden in the coming weeks.

“We’re honored we could come together in this collaborative effort to make the garden a reality,” said Angela Rock. “Our hope at the Foundation is that this garden will continue to serve as a place of inner peace and comfort for the incredible men and women of the coroner’s office.”