Consider being a volunteer mentor

Ruth Gordon is someone I have always respected because she is so much like her mother, Ruth Aberasturi, a fighter for children, an advocate for those who don't have a voice.

Ruth Aberasturi worked for many years with me at the Carson City School District, improving the lives of special-needs children. Ruth Gordon is the director of Western Nevada Community College Mentoring Center, and always needs volunteers to help children.

My friend Rex Stelzer, a transplant from California, volunteers as a mentor for a local boy and very much enjoys it. Rex is a retired policeman, and helping children is something he always wanted to do. Now, with his own boys raised, he decided to give back. A lot of mentors tell me they really think they make a difference.

National Volunteer Week is April 23-29, and you can make a difference by volunteering to be a mentor. Check out the Web site below for ways you can help.

Western Nevada Mentoring Program and National Volunteer Week

When: National Volunteer Week, April 23-29. Mentors needed throughout the year.

Where: Mentor Center of Western Nevada, WNCC Reynolds Building, Room 104B

Contact: Ruth Gordon at rgordon@wncc.edu or 775-445-3346.

Web site: www.pointsoflight.org/programs/seasons/nvw

This next event is going to be a walk in the park. On Saturday - Earth Day- enjoy a one-hour walk on partially paved and dirt trails right in the middle of town.

All ages will meet at the Capitol steps at 10 a.m. You'll need to register as Muscle Powered members to join the nonprofit.

Following the walk, the Carson City Earth Day Fair will be set up in the Capitol Mall.

Muscle Powered presents an Earth Day walk

Where: Capitol Steps

When: 10 a.m. Saturday

Contact: Barry at 883-8628

• • •

I stopped by Volunteers of America Saturday to drop off shoes for the children at the homeless shelter. As always, I left with a huge sense of gratitude.

Harley-Davidson Financial, the Methodist Men's group, St. Paul's Brotherhood and Northern Nevada Title Co. owners Jim and Sue Kiernan took money to Payless Shoes Source to help buy shoes for needy children.

Their generosity and yours allows many more children to receive shoes, even after Easter.

A special thank you to Betty Razor and Dee Ferrara for helping me size students, and to Becky at Payless Shoes, who took time before she went to work to help distribute shoes at Mark Twain Elementary.

It's great when you have such wonderful volunteers and schools, especially the nurses at each school. You're angels!

• To have your information included, contact Kim Riggs at kimriggs@att.net.