Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Handing out nothing but silver this week

The Nevada Appeal's "Silver Dollar" and "Wooden Nickel" feature recognizes positive achievements from the capital region and, when warranted, points out others that missed the mark.

Silver Dollar: To Cade Ball, a Gardnerville 9-year-old who was selected to play Michael in a Broadway touring production of "Mary Poppins." A talented and outgoing young man, Cade is currently charming the audiences in Western Nevada Musical Theater Company's "The Sound of Music." This one-in-a-million opportunity will surely give him the training and experience to be a success in whatever endeavors he embarks on in life. And a silver dollar to his parents, for their support and sacrifice to make their son's dreams come true.

Silver Dollar: To former FISH director Monte Fast and his wife, Billie, for their much-deserved recognition as Distinguished Nevadans, an honor conferred at the University of Nevada, Reno's advanced degree commencement ceremony Friday. Fast ran FISH, the charity that serves as a lifesaving resource for so many in need in Carson City, from 1988 until he retired in 2008, supported by his wife. "I can't imagine any of this would be possible without Billie," he said. "She's a brick."

Silver Dollar: To Gina Gann, of the J.C. Penney Salon, who is doing what she can to help with the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Gann and other stylists at the salon are collecting the hair clippings to send to an organization that turns it into oil-absorbing booms. The scope of the Gulf crisis has yet to be fully comprehended, especially by those of us on the other side of the country. It's tempting to succumb to "disaster fatigue" and just tune out this crisis. Gann and the others who are working to do something, anything, to help, should be commended.