The regional Chamber of Commerce was formed for the sole purpose of giving back to their community; additionally, they support their members with various programs. One of those programs is Chamber Youth which allows students from local schools to get hands-on experience supporting local charities. The program recently graduated its 20th class, which consisted of 29 students from 10 high schools around Reno. This class supported the Give Hope Foundation and the Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation.
Every year, the Chamber’s Youth Leadership Program works on its annual service project to support a local charity.
The Give Hope Foundation is a unique non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial support to Northern Nevada families that have children struggling with catastrophic illnesses. The students in this group created ‘travel bags’ for the kids who attend treatment out of town. The bags include necessities like toiletries, but also toys, water bottles, resource cards and gas cards, among other things, all of which have been donated by local businesses and people.
Other students chose to support a group whose cause they could relate to: children with cancer. They organized a garage sale and solicited donations to help raise funds for their project. In total, they raised over $2,000, using the money to put together care packages for the kids and their families, along with handwritten letters.
This year’s graduates are: Madison Cameron, Alison Thronton, and Veena Veerappan from Damonte Ranch High School; Crissey Cameron from Wooster High School; Danielle Charles, Madisyn Horning, and Bailey Hvegholm from AACT; Christie Chaump, Collin Crown, Declan Furr, Sarah Higgins, and Haley Stevenson from McQueen High School; Andrew Dobrowski from Galena High School; Stephen Erdelyi, Tricia Lyn Kamaunu, Andrea Lynch, and Hanna Metcalfe from TMCC HS; Nicole Flangas, Jacob Hoberg, Baylee Parkin, Alexandra Sasse, and Isabel Strait from Reno High School; Kayleen Garrick, Aryam Monge, Samantha Szachara, and Nicole Walsh from Spanish Springs High School; Victoria Lawson from Bishop Manogue High School; Alexis Reel and Bryan Stacy from Reed High School.
