Employee Volunteer All-Stars Archive
2012
Michael Baxter
Bartender
Harrah’s New Orleans
Michael Baxter has been a solid contributor to Harrah’s New Orleans’ success since its pre-opening days in early 1999. He’s not only passionate about his job, he’s also passionate about Habitat for Humanity, an organization whose mission is to empower families to own their own home. Since Hurricane Katrina, Michael has helped raise more than a dozen homes, doing everything from digging foundation holes to nailing on the final piece of trim to installing siding. With no background in home building or repair, Michael learned much by being hands-on, and he now manages and trains other Habitat volunteers and serves as an enthusiastic New Orleans ambassador to out-of-town Habitat volunteers.
Reginald L. Dotson
Regional Public Relations Manager
Ameristar Casinos, Inc.
Reginald Dotson serves as the regional public relations manager for Ameristar Casinos, Inc., where he has worked for 10 years. He is responsible for media relations, community relations, and internal communications for Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago in East Chicago, Ind. and Ameristar Casino Resort Spa in St. Charles, Mo. At Ameristar, Reggie has continued to support the company’s high standards for corporate consciousness, community service and volunteerism. He proudly promotes the company’s commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen and takes great pride in its efforts to build lasting community partnerships with charitable organizations, especially throughout Northwest Indiana. At the forefront of Reggie’s community involvement is his role as a co-chairman for Ameristar East Chicago’s Ameristar Cares workplace giving program, a post he has held for four years. Through the in-house workplace giving program, Team Members at Ameristar East Chicago are given the opportunity to contribute to one of five charities; Community Health Charities, the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, the Lake Area United Way, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Ameristar’s internal Sunshine Fund. During Reggie’s tenure as co-chairman, Team Member participation in this campaign increased from 31 percent in 2009 to 38 percent in 2010. Furthermore, his recommendations on the execution of the 2011 campaign allowed Ameristar East Chicago to achieve a 49 percent Team Member participation rate, which was the highest participation rate in the history of the property.
Rose Farmer
Facility Manager
Bally Technologies
Over the past four years, Rose Farmer, a Reno-based facility manager at Bally Technologies, has logged more than 700 hours at the Reno Crisis Call Center. In 2010 the organization named her Volunteer of the Year. “Volunteering on the crisis lines for the past four years has given me a sense of purpose and fulfilled my desire to help others as well as taught me to remain calm in stressful situations,” she said. Reno’s Crisis Call Center provides support, information, referrals, and crisis intervention to anyone in any type of crisis. In addition, volunteers take calls regarding child abuse, elder abuse, domestic violence, and senior services. The calls come from Las Vegas and Reno, surrounding communities as well as across the country, so Rose can be talking to people in Hawaii as well as other places in the United States. Rose is also on the Reno community walk committee for the “Walk in Memory, Walk for Hope” which raises money for the “Nevada Coalition for Suicide Prevention” each year in September.
Mark Foster
Director, Organizational Development and Learning
WMS Gaming, Inc.
Mark has a passion for people, which has supported his drive to positively affect as many youth as possible. He is actively involved in community outreach and has been part of a group that created and sponsors programs like Passion Outreach, Girls Connected and Kids Believe. These North Chicago/ Waukegan, Ill. programs are focused on reaching disadvantaged younger students in their early formative school years by providing social skill instruction, developmental guidance and character education tools. Their targets are to achieve healthy relationships that encourage hope and personal improvement. Mark, along with the rest of these volunteers, works with local schools and churches to mentor at- risk youth through structured encouragement.
Bobby Hunter
Security Guard
Isle Casino & Racing at Pompano Park
Bobby Hunter originally came to Isle Casino & Racing at Pompano Park to work in marketing, but quickly took a part-time job as a security officer to spend time during the week working for different volunteer programs. One of these programs is the Pompano Substance Abuse Treatment Center, where the game of basketball has opened up the opportunity for Bobby to connect with troubled youth. Bobby soon got involved in the Seagull Alternative High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which educates young pregnant women and cancer stricken students. Although Bobby originally came to the Seagull School to hold a basketball clinic for the school’s new team, he quickly began hosting mentoring classes on how to perform in job interviews and find employment. Bobby, a former member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, is the founder and executive director of ‘Empowerment Through Recreation” a non-profit organization based in New York City. Through his own example, Bobby has proven that, through recreation, education and self-awareness, empowerment manifests itself through accomplishment.
Hiroshi Kajiyama
Carpenter
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
A Mandalay Bay employee for 10 years, Hiro worked in 2011 to get his entire department involved in community projects. After a tornado last spring ravaged the town of Joplin, Mo., garnering national press attention, he organized a resort-wide donation drive for hand and power tools to help the people of Joplin rebuild their town. Closer to home, Hiro connected with an organization called Special Spaces, which does extensive bedroom remodels for children who’ve been diagnosed with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. The Special Spaces founder, Karen Reed, met Hiro at a local carpenters’ union meeting; before long, several volunteers from Mandalay Bay had signed on to help.“Hiro has to be sent from above, I swear. We’re a relatively new organization, and he really stepped in to make sure that our very first room transformation was a success,” Reed said. “He rallied his co-workers. We planned a theme around (the popular kids show) Thomas the Train, and Hiro even custom-designed and built a Thomas the Train toy box for us. We could not have done it without him.” Hiro was awarded MGM Resorts International’s 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award for line-level employees.
Fred Lipkin
Director of Advertising and Public Relations
Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course
Fred’s history at Penn National Gaming spans more than 35 years of dedication to our businesses, and he exhibits an untiring commitment to serve our communities and provide help and assistance to those who are less fortunate. Fred has been a part of more than 35 holiday dinners, and has served thousands of meals during the Christmas season to families in need at the Ronald McDonald House. Over the past five years, almost 1,000 Thanksgiving dinner baskets were prepared and distributed under Fred’s coordination to families who would otherwise not have had a holiday dinner. Over the last 16 years, through Fred’s leadership, almost $2 million has been raised for IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and donated to the Hershey Medical Center to continue research that will someday put an end to suffering from diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Fred manages and disburses over $300,000 a year to various charities so they can continue the work they do to improve lives, help those who are going through life crises and support medical research. Not only does Fred give back to the community in the ways mentioned above, but he also is a member of the Hershey Harrisburg Convention and Visitors Authority and works diligently to find ways to increase tourism to our communities and find new markets to promote our area and generate more business.
Tara Meierkord
Assistant Controller
Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada
Tara Meierkord joined Southern Wine and Spirits of Nevada, as assistant controller in 2006. She obtained her MBA from UNLV in 2005. Tara is the proud mother of two beautiful children, a two-year old girl named Makenna, and newborn boy named Colton. Tara loves anything that is a challenge and pushes herself to the limits in assisting others, both in and outside of work. Since she has been at Southern Wine and Spirits she has been active in volunteering at every level and most recently was one of the individuals that spearheaded the IMPACT team, Southern Wine and Spirits' volunteer organization. The level of commitment and energy that she puts into this volunteer group is resounding and infectious. We are truly lucky to have her heading up volunteer efforts at Southern Wine and Spirits of America.
Christy Sherwood
Inventory Control Coordinator
Shuffle Master, Inc.
Christy devotes much of her time outside of work to Spirit Therapies, a group devoted to therapeutic horseback riding for special needs children and adults. The Spirit volunteers work with a wide range of people with challenges such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down’s syndrome. Christy teaches people how to ride the horses and is personally touched by the one-on-one experience of seeing a child light up when riding a horse for the first time. Christy also worked with the Horses Healing Heroes program at Spirit Therapies, which is designed to help active duty military personnel and veterans. Some of these men and women completed multiple deployments throughout their military career and now have PTSD, or traumatic brain injuries. Riding horses is therapeutic to their conditions and quite rewarding for the volunteers. In addition to her work with Spirit Therapies, Christy joined the “Books and Buddies” program at Shuffle Master. Program volunteers provide reading mentoring to elementary school students at Jack Dailey School. Christy spends approximately one hour per week reading to a student.
Williemae Stevenson
Accountant
Cadillac Jack
Williemae Stevenson has volunteered at Victory World Church in Norcross, Ga. as a Head Teacher in their Children’s Ministry for 5 years. She also volunteers at Hosea Feed the Hungry, where she helps prepare lunches for distribution at the DeKalb County prison and in Atlanta’s poor neighborhoods. She prepares boxes of food to deliver, sets up special events, and serves food to the hungry and homeless at Turner Field. She is planning to go on her first mission trip in June to Nicaragua to help assist children in need of food, education, light construction and biblical ministry. Williemae enjoys volunteering, and it is her passion to help others in the community as well as abroad.
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