Las Vegas Sun

November 12, 2009

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WestCare’s supporters to be honored at dinner

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998 | 12:07 p.m.

WestCare, Inc. will celebrate 25 years of helping children, adults and families in crisis with an $80-per-plate fund raising dinner Sunday that will honor a dozen people who have been instrumental in the organization's success.

Among those to be feted at the event, which begins at 6 p.m. at the Flamingo Hilton casino-hotel, are Las Vegas Sun Executive Editor Mike O'Callaghan, who was governor when WestCare was created in 1973 with a grant from the Teamsters Union.

Sun columnist Joe Delaney and Ruthe Deskin, assistant to the publisher of the Sun, also are to be given recognition for their long-standing support of WestCare, which, when founded, was called Fitzsimmons House, after Frank E. Fitzsimmons, former Teamsters president.

Deskin is a member of the board of directors.

Other board members who will be honored at the annual affair are Frank Keyser, Tex King, Robert McNutt, Mary Rymer, Joyce Standish, Dr. William Sullivan and Dick Thomas.

Richard Ham, former chief of the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, also will be recognized for his contribution to WestCare.

Spokesman Katherine Kraft says WestCare is the state's "largest private, non-profit organization providing substance abuse prevention, intervention and treatment."

Since its beginning, Westcare's services have grown beyond substance abuse to include providing temporary shelter for runaways.

It has six locations in three states, including:

-- Community Involvement Center, 401 S. Martin Luther King Blvd., where care is provided to youths, adults and families affected by drug and alcohol abuse.

-- Youth Services Center, also on Martin Luther King Boulevard, a runaway shelter and detoxification center for adolescents.

-- Harris Springs Ranch, Mount Charleston, a 40-bed adult residential treatment program and a 16-bed male adolescent treatment program.

-- Adult Services & Detoxification Center, 930 N. Fourth St., a drug and alcohol detoxification center for adults.

-- Colorado River Region Youth Services, Bullhead City, Ariz., a short-term shelter for runaways, homeless and exploited youths.

-- Safe House, Bullhead City, a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

-- The Third Floor, Fresno, Calif., a detoxification center.

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