Serving our Kids Foundation hosted an open house on Thursday, March 7. Former State Sen. Patrica Farley has been elected board president of Serving Our Kids, a Southern Nevada nonprofit that fights child hunger.
Serving Our Kids is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to feeding at-risk and homeless children throughout Clark County. It has served more than 435,000 weekend food bags to children and currently supports 63 Clark County schools by providing weekend food bags.
“There are enough big hearts in our community that no child should have an empty stomach,” said Farley, who made child welfare a high priority during her time in the Legislature.
In Carson City she led bipartisan efforts to better fund education, combat drug abuse and make families a priority in Nevada. She was also served on a blue ribbon commission to improve the child welfare system.
“Childhood hunger contributes to lower grades, poor self-esteem, illness and crime,” Farley said. “People who grow up hungry may not be prepared to live and contribute to their community or Nevada.”
Farley said she looks forward to expanding Serving Our Kids’ reach to over 8000 kids served each week, while retaining its grassroots energy.
“Dedicated people pulling together is how change happens,” she said.
Serving Our Kids, founded in 2010, enlists volunteers to collect food donations from throughout Clark County. The donations are brought to a Henderson warehouse, bagged and then distributed to children in need.
Farley has extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, including serving as board president for Aid for Aids of Nevada, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the state and the largest AIDS service organization. During her tenure, AFAN increased its financial support even as Las Vegas suffered in the Great Recession.
She has supported many other organizations with her work, expertise and resources. Those include the Las Vegas Veteran Memorial, UNLV Foundation, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Foundation, Volunteers in Medicine, Veterans Village and Child Advocacy Alliance.
Volunteer opportunities with Serving Our Kids include:
Prep night at SOK warehouse
March 13 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Bagging night at SOK warehouse
March 14 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Food bag deliveries to all Schools
March 15 @ 8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Community Parking Lot Sale
March 16 @ 7:00 am – 2:00 pm