Local fund-raisers aid victims, laid-off workers

Angela Soo

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 10:09 a.m.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, dozens of fund-raising events have taken place in Southern Nevada for both the attack victims and the local workers who have been laid off because of the resultant drop in tourism.

Local efforts to help the community include a parade organized by the Boricua Association of Las Vegas, which is an organization composed of members of the Southern Nevada Puerto Rican community. Proceeds from the parade will go to either United Way of Southern Nevada or the Red Cross.

The event, known as Celebrate America, International Patriotic Celebration Day Parade, will take place Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Attractions will begin in downtown Las Vegas along 4th Street between Stewart and Coolidge avenues. The parade was originally to celebrate Hispanic heritage, but event organizers decided to change the theme.

"We were in the midst of planning the second annual Hispanic Day Parade when, like so many others, we were stunned by the terrorist acts," Margarita Rebollal, president of the organization, said. "We must stand in unity during this tragic time."

In other fund-raising news:

* The Community College of Southern Nevada has established a scholarship fund in memory of Barbara Edwards, a former adjunct faculty instructor at the college. Edwards, a languages teacher at Palo Verde High School, was a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon.

John Kuminecz, a spokesman for the college, said the Barbara G. Edwards German Scholarship Fund will benefit students studying German by helping them pay for tuition, books and possibly a one-month immersion program in a German-speaking country.

Donations may be sent to CCSN Financial Aid Office, 6375 W. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89146.

* Local organizations are also teaming to help thousands of hospitality workers who were recently laid off and deployed military personnel.

The Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association, Nevada Restaurant Association and their educational and philanthropic arm, the Nevada Hospitality Foundation, will hold a fund-raising event Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. in Caesars Palace.

The event will feature Las Vegas headline entertainers and a silent auction. Tickets are $100 each and proceeds will to the the Nevada Hospitality Emergency Action Relief Tour (H.E.A.R.T.). For more information, call 878-9272.

* The Tillerman Restaurant, 2245 E. Flamingo Road, is also joining efforts to raise funds for H.E.A.R.T. by donating all check proceeds received on Oct. 23 from 5 to 10 p.m.

* Susan Santarcangelo, a local singer and songwriter, will dedicate an original song to those who were lost in the World Trade Center. She will sing "Into the Hands of Grace" with the Nevada Chamber Symphony at the Clark County Government Center amphitheater on Saturday at 8 p.m.