Engelstad Family Foundation honored

Kris Engelstad McGarry and the Engelstad Family Foundation received the Education Hero award during a gala Sept. 20 sponsored by the Public Education Foundation at the Mandarin Oriental.

Also honored were entertainer Clint Holmes as the Champion of Children and activist Dorothy Eisenberg as the recipient of the foundation’s Lifetime Education Achievement Award.

The Public Education Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, is dedicated to strategic giving entrepreneurship, talent development and public education reform.

Foundation President Judi Steele told the sold-out audience that the foundation has raised $100 million to further its mission of improving public education.

Students wearing caps and gowns greeted guests as they arrived at the Mandarin Oriental’s valet. Elevators delivered everyone to the hotel’s top floor to enjoy a hosted bar and passed canapes while electronically bidding on the extensive silent auction.

Seen in the crowd were Nevada Supreme Court Justices Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta, Clark County Commissioners Mary Beth Scow and Susan Brager, state Sens. Mark Manendo, “Mo” Denis and Barbara Cegavske, Assemblywoman Marilyn Dondero Loop, Clark County School Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and Congresswoman Dina Titus.

Also attending, Tom Wright, Michael Brown, Steven M. Singer, Robin Reddle, Randy Campanale, Hannah Brown, Theresa and Michael Minden, Myrna Williams, Lori Rogich, Melinda and Bob Brown, Shelley Berkley, Dee and Don Snyder, Jan Jones Blackhurst and Dana Blackhurst, Al Bernstein, Karen and Morgan Cashman, Sandy Peltyn, Denise and Bill Martin, Linda Smith, Carolyn Edwards, and Irais and Robert Kolesar.

Musical entertainment was a large part of the evening. Performers and artists included a Showcase of the Arts from the Clark County School District including the Madrigal Choir from Desert Oasis High School, Las Vegas Academy Guitar Quartet and Dance Ensemble, Green Valley High School Jazz Combo, Clark High School Symphonic Strings and the Cheyenne High School Army JROTC.

Emceeing the event were Sue Manteris and Curtis Templeton.

Sig Rogich, chairman of the board, and Judi Steele asked for a moment of silence to remember the late Jim Rogers and Bob Bailey.

During the three-course dinner, auctioneer Christian Kolberg conducted the live auction for nine packages, including a four-day ski trip to Deer Valley, Utah’s luxurious Montage hotel that sold for $5,500, two Goldendoodle pups went for $1,500 apiece, a Maltese and Chinese crested mix puppy brought in $2,000, a Metro SWAT and fly-along sold for $5,000 and the top bid of $9,000 was for 100 inches of Mikimoto cultured pearls.

Jan Jones Blackhurst and Pat Skorkowsky introduced Dorothy Eisenberg. She was active as president of the League of Women Voters, the first female president of the Jewish Federation and played a key role to end segregation in public schools. Eisenberg was an early member of the Public Education Foundation and there is a school named after her.

Clint Holmes was introduced by Myron Martin and Lark McCarthy. Holmes is very involved with the Public Education Foundation’s Artists 4 Kidz initiative. He experienced an emotional moment when his 11-year-old granddaughter, Asia McCoy, a student at Knudson Middle School, surprised him by singing “Then a Hero Comes Along.”

The Engelstad Family Foundation has donated $12 million to endow student scholarships and given $1.6 million to the Education Foundation to expand its English language program in high-need schools.

Sighted among the dinner crowd were Kelly Clinton-Holmes, Brittany McCoy, Genene and William Boldt, Art Manteris, Marv Rubin, Dana Martin, Greta Peay, Marianne Boyd Johnson, Linda Young, Lucy Flores, Ardell Galbreth, Julie Gilday-Shaffer, Melissa Warren and Christina Moon.