North Las Vegas Neighborhood News

DEC. 21 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CANCELED

The North Las Vegas City Council meeting planned for Dec. 21 has been canceled.

VOTES NEEDED FOR READER'S DIGEST GRANTS

Help North Las Vegas compete for a Reader's Digest grant of up to $50,000 by voting in the We Hear You America campaign. Express how the grant will make the city better by going to we hearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/ and searching for North Las Vegas.

Winners will be announced in 2012.

Henderson and Las Vegas are also in the running for the grant funds.

PRUNING SERIES PLANNED AT ORCHARDS

Gardeners looking to sharpen their pruning skills are welcome to a series of weekly classes offered at the University of Nevada's Cooperative Extension Orchard.

Classes will be given every hour from 9 a.m. to noon on these days:

n Saturday, Pruning Peaches and Nectarines

n Dec. 17, Pruning Apricots, Plums and Pluots

n Jan. 7, Pruning Apples, Pears and Quince

n Jan. 14, Fertilizing Fruit Trees and Pest Control

n Jan. 21, Pruning Figs, Pomegranates and Persimmons

n Jan. 28, Pruning Almonds and Pistachios

A $5 donation to the orchard for each class is being solicited to help support educational research, outreach and demonstrations. The orchard lost its monetary support from the university this year.

No reservation is needed.

The UNCE Orchard is 100 yards east of the intersection of Decatur Boulevard and Horse Drive.

For more information, contact Bob Morris at extremehort@aol.com or call the orchard at 257-5532 and leave a message for a volunteer.

TOY DRIVE PLANNED AT LOCAL WALMARTS THROUGH DEC. 18

Saturday is the kickoff for the 10th annual "Fill the Fire Truck Toy Drive" put on by the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation.

Firefighters will collect new, unwrapped toys and gift cards at select Walmart stores from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 18.

The designated Walmart locations are: 8060 W. Tropical Parkway; 4350 N. Nellis Blvd.; 7200 Arroyo Crossing Parkway; 6464 N. Decatur Blvd.

Several community service programs and organizations have partnered with Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation to distribute toys to families in need, including: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas; Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League, Hemophilia Foundation of Nevada; Candlelighters for Childhood Cancer of Nevada; Clark County Department of Social Services; Cure 4Kids; and many family resource centers and local elementary schools. The Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation, a nonprofit organization, includes firefighters from the Clark County Fire Department, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, North Las Vegas Fire Department, Nellis Fire Department and Henderson Fire Department.

CITY COUNCIL ADDRESSES UPCOMING FINANCIAL SITUATION

A $15 million shortfall could be ahead next fiscal year, and employee union negotiations could again be on the table in North Las Vegas, the city's acting finance director told the City Council at its Nov. 16 meeting.

Al Noyola presented the financial forecast to council members during a special meeting, during which he said police, firefighters and Teamsters unions must meet again to hash out budget-saving concessions.

Slashes in workforce, services and the general fund have put the city at similar levels to those of 2004. The city also is in a hiring freeze. The council approved a 2012 operating budget of $125 million. Action was taken at the Nov. 16 meeting for the city to resolve to keep an 8 percent ending fund balance each fiscal year.

HELP OPERATION HOMEFRONT COLLECT GIFTS FOR CHILDREN

Operation Homefront Nevada and Dollar Tree are collecting holiday gifts for military children in Nevada. The toys will be donated by patrons of the more than 4,000 Dollar Tree and Deal$ stores nationwide.

Last year's effort donated more than 6 million toys nationwide.

Toys will be collected through today . Gifts will be distributed to military children during holiday events. In areas where Operation Homefront does not have a chapter, local military support groups will distribute the toys to military families and their children.

For more information, visit operationhomefront.net.

LAS VEGAS ROTARY CLUBS COLLECTING CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN IN NEED

Las Vegas-area Rotary clubs are asking for donations for the 16th annual Gift of the Holidays program, which provides winter clothing to children in need. On Thursday , children identified by local charitable organizations will be driven to JCPenney stores, where each child will be paired with a Rotarian or a volunteer to shop for shoes, socks, underwear, pants, shirts and a jacket.

The day includes supervised sports activities with college athletes and cheerleaders and a pizza party.

In order to reach its goal, the Rotary clubs need to collect more than $30,000. To make a donation, contact Jim Hunt at 498-7787 or Tom Krob at 498-2259.

SPECIALITY GIFT BASKETS TO BENEFIT THREE SQUARE FOOD BANK

Double holiday giving with a Jadon Foods gift basket. The North Las Vegas-based gluten-free bakery is donating all proceeds from its specialty baskets to Three Square food bank through December. The baskets include the bakery's signature cookies and snacks for people and pets as well as Tea-rrific brand teas. One Park Place Enterprises partners with Jadon Foods to create the baskets. For more information, visit jadonfoods.com or threesquare.org.

HELP OF SOUTHERN NEVADA LAUNCHES HOLIDAY PROGRAMS

HELP of Southern Nevada, 1640 E. Flamingo Road, is launching three of its annual programs this holiday season.

Donations to HELP's Thanksgiving program provides a holiday meal for a family of four.

The group's Adopt-a-Family program allows people to assist needy families in giving them clothing and toys for the holidays.

The Holiday Assistance/Toy Drive benefits more than 16,000 families with its donations.

To donate, volunteer or for more information, call Lisa Laudadio at 369-4357, ext. 1246, or visit helpsonv.org.

Learn to sell local produce and meat during workshops

The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, 8050 Paradise Road, plans to launch a Beginning Farmers & Ranchers program in 2012 with workshops on field crops, processing and selling locally grown meat products and becoming a produce farmer.

Each workshop is two days long and costs $50, which includes two lunches and snacks.

The program is scheduled to run from March to September 2012. For more information, call Staci Emm at 775-945-3444 or visit unce.unr.edu.