Employee Volunteer All-Stars Archive
2012
Deborah Attaway
System Project Manager
Cadillac Jack
Deborah Attaway, Cadillac Jack’s system project manager, has partnered with her fellow church attendees to organize a volunteer tutoring group for a community in which English is a second language. Deb and her fellow volunteers spend their time working with neighborhood children on language skills, academic skills and other issues.
Crystal Bowsher
Technical Writer
International Game Technology (IGT) Las Vegas
Cheryl Bowsher is a committed team captain who has led IGT’s Corporate Challenge team for the past three years. Cheryl, a technical writer at IGT, recruits and organizes volunteers for this annual Olympics-style Las Vegas event that pits teams from different companies and industries against each other to help promote corporate wellness and team spirit. Over the course of the 11-week Corporate Challenge, Cheryl makes sure IGT is well represented at the 32 different events. Last year, Cheryl’s hard work resulted in a gold medal. So don’t be surprised if she is rounding up relay racers or carpooling a bunch of IGT Basketball players to the next event. Cheryl also is a “blanketeer” with the Clark County chapter of Project Linus, an organization that provides blankets to terminally ill and traumatized children in need. Cheryl knits several blankets a year for the organization in her spare time.
Charles Brewer
Safety Compliance Training Manager
Circus Circus Las Vegas
Charles helps facilitate the resort’s Junior Executive Training program, a one-day-a-month mentoring program that introduces the children of employees to the resort industry. He volunteers 50+ hours a year for this successful program and is involved in every aspect from development to meeting implementation. Now in its third year, the Junior Executive Training program was recently opened to employees companywide and has graduated over 30 students. Away from work, Charles volunteers often with the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research and prevention. He helped organize a first-of-its-kind children’s activity area during last year’s Southern Nevada Race for the Cure fundraiser downtown and is gearing up to coordinate a similar activity area for children at this year’s race. “Charles Brewer goes above and beyond in everything that he does. He not only volunteers for anything that is requested, but he often takes a leadership role. It is impossible to adequately describe the difference Charles has made in our culture at Circus Circus,” said Becky West, a fellow employee.
Lori Burke
Public Relations Manager
Ameristar Casino Hotel-Vicksburg
Lori will tell you that the best thing about working for Ameristar is interacting with the community and “guiding our company and team members to play a more active role.” “Fortunately,” she says, “I work for a company whose leaders and team members are as passionate about the community as I am.” Lori has been with the company 11 years working in marketing and public relations. She has always played an active role in volunteering, and her role as public relations manager has given her the opportunity to help team members become more involved and help fill the needs of the Vicksburg community. In this role, she spearheads the Ameristar Casino Hotel Vicksburg Ameristar Cares charitable giving campaign and creates opportunities for team members to volunteer. “My most impactful experience of all was volunteering for the Red Cross during Hurricane Katrina,” she said. “I interviewed the victims and helped them register for financial aid by hearing their devastating stories.” Being so involved with the Red Cross, Lori was instrumental in recruiting Ameristar to provide food and other necessities for the shelters. “All of these volunteer experiences have made an impact on me as a person and showed me what giving back is really all about,” she said.
Brad Campbell
MIS Technician
Rainbow Hotel Casino
Brad truly exemplifies the word ‘service’, both at work and in the community. Regardless of his workload, Brad can always be counted on to volunteer for special projects at the casino property. In the local community, Brad constantly seeks out opportunities to lend a helping hand. He has long been a volunteer with the American Red Cross, serving in various roles for more than six years. In addition, he assists with United Way agencies whenever, and wherever, needed. On his own, he has pursued certifications that make him a highly-qualified and valuable volunteer; to name a few, he learned to operate and drive the Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle, became a certified CPR instructor, earned certifications from FEMA on emergency management, and has had extensive Disaster Recovery training. Since May 2010, Brad has logged more than 275 hours as a community volunteer; some through Rainbow, but most on his personal time. He responds to house fires in the middle of the night to assist anyone forced out of their home, and he readily teaches Red Cross courses whenever he is needed.
Heather Carlson
Principal Manager, Marketing Operations
WMS Gaming, Inc.
Heather is an active member of the dog rescue community. She is a regular Sunday dog walker and adoption assistant for the adoption floor dogs at Chicago Animal Care & Control. In addition, she serves as an advocate for homeless animals using several social media platforms and was recently appointed volunteer coordinator for Famous Fido Rescue & Adoption Alliance in Andersonville, a Chicago neighborhood. Heather has also taken on the role of foster parent for rescue animals via Friends of Chicago Animal Care & Control. She finds this volunteer work to be extremely fulfilling and looks forward to being a catalyst for positive change in animal rescue.
Jeanie Ferguson
Executive Assistant
Shuffle Master, Inc.
Jeanie is an active member of a philanthropic club, “Soroptimist International of Metropolitan Las Vegas.” The club is devoted to improving the lives of women and girls and calls upon professional women to help. The club assists women who are the primary source of financial support for their families by giving them the resources they need to improve their education, skills and employment prospects. Each year, more than $1.5 million is disbursed to recipients in need. Jeanie has been a club member for four years and served as club secretary for two years. As the current service coordinator, Jeanie was the chairwomen for the Women’s Opportunity Award in 2011. Jeanie also serves as the committee chairwomen for the Kenya School Project that helps improve the lives of the children of N’goswani through education. The committee has raised funds to build five classrooms for students in Kenya. In addition, Jeanie is a committee member of the Teddy Bear Breakfast with Santa. More than 75 children living in multiple Safe Houses attended the breakfast.
Blake Garrabant
Vice President of IT
Shuffle Master, Inc.
Blake Garrabrant is one of the Books & Buddies Mentors at Shuffle Master’s adopted school, Jack Dailey Elementary School. As a Books & Buddies mentor, Blake helps a student improve their reading skills one hour per week, averaging 34 hours of mentoring time per year. As a technology expert, Blake also brings a little something extra to share with his buddies during their time together. Once a student reaches a milestone in their reading, Blake breaks out the Black Berry or i-pad and takes learning to another level. Blake also led an effort to repurpose more than 50 used HP tablets by donating them to the teachers and administrators of Jack Dailey to help them further their quest in educating the children of our community. Blake got the idea to re-purpose the HP tablets after speaking to some of the teachers about their challenges.
Barbara Gillis
Security Dispatcher
Isle Casino Hotel Biloxi
Barbara Gillis is full-time security dispatch officer and a member of the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary (DAVA) Chapter in Gulfport, Miss. A great deal of Barbara’s personal time is spent doing volunteer work for DAVA. The purpose of this organization is to raise funds for needy disabled American veterans and their families as well as to provide assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans returning home. Within the past year Barbara has averaged 966 hours of volunteer time – that’s almost 3 hours a day, 365 days a year – while maintaining a full-time job. Some of these hours were spent making crafts to sell for an outreach program this past Veterans Day. The funds from this program bought coffee and doughnuts for the veterans to enjoy while waiting on their appointments at the Biloxi Veterans Hospital. In addition, she spent time sitting and visiting with the elderly in nursing homes and selling bingo cards to help raise additional funds. Barbara was recently elected senior vice president of the ladies auxiliary, and her goal is to recruit new members who also will be interested in volunteering their time helping our disabled American veterans. In addition to her work with DAVA, Barbara has been involved in community programs at the Isle Biloxi. She has been instrumental in saving eye glasses for the Lyon’s Club to recycle and to distribute to people who cannot afford them. Over the past year, with Barbara’s assistance, the Isle has been able to donate more than 500 pairs of eye glasses to this program.
Cassie Hale
Hotel Front Desk Clerk
Ameristar Casino Hotel-Kansas City
Cassie Hale volunteered for the first time with Ameristar at age 19. Ameristar was hosting a Toys-for-Tots football scramble, and Cassie signed up to run the concession stand. Although not required, Cassie brought in toys for the kids. This was a defining moment for Cassie, who realized that giving back was part of who she wanted to be as a person. Now, at age 24, she volunteers nearly every time Ameristar sponsors an event. She has become a regular volunteer at North Kansas City Hospital, delivering flowers to patients, and has worked with Bridging the Gap, teaching people about recycling. Cassie estimates that she has volunteered more than 250 hours since she began working at Ameristar, doing everything from answering phones at the MDA telethon to making Valentine’s Day cards with developmentally disabled clients at the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City’s sheltered workshop. When asked why she volunteers, she explained that “I don’t always have money, but I always have time to give. When someone asked me what I wanted to be or do with my life, I realized it wasn’t a certain career – but more the kind of person I want to be. I want to be that person, who lights up someone else’s life; who lifts up people around me. In every interaction I want to brighten someone’s day.”
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