Shine City Service in Las Vegas at Lake Mead #USA

On April 3, Shine City Project returned for a service project at Lake Mead in Nevada, and on April 18, they visited the All Friends Animal Sanctuary outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

At Lake Mead in Nevada, five volunteers journeyed to their clean-up destination in emphatic style by having the opportunity to ride a boat. They made their way to the Las Vegas Boat Harbor at Lake Mead, where they met Liz and Bob, a married couple of forty-one years who are staff members for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

This extraordinary couple coordinated the cleanup project for the day. The volunteer group was tasked with clearing out litter from Hideaway Cove. In order access the cove, they travelled forty-five minutes by boat.
Reaching the shore near their destination, everyone was equipped with cleaning tools and continued their journey afoot. Walking along the shore, an assortment of bottles, cans, and a variety of balls were collected. The largest item retrieved was the frame of a leftover pop-up tent. After the cleanup, the collected waste was loaded onto the boat.
On the way back to the marina, the team had a quick break at the floating restroom and visited the Hoover Dam.

On the other hand, at the All Friends Animal Sanctuary, participants worked with Tara Pike-Nordstrom; who founded the sanctuary and is also the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Recycling Manager and Sustainability Coordinator.
Pike-Nordstrom was also the faculty advisor for Shine City Project during its tenure as a registered student organization at UNLV. Memories of the group’s most memorable cleanups together with Ms. Pike-Nordstrom and their late-night cleanups at Sam Boyd Stadium were reignited with this reunion. In those days, they collected all of the bottles, cans, plastic cups, and other recyclable materials from the bleachers. All of these items filled hundreds of bags that brimmed several large dustbins.

On this Sunday afternoon, sixteen volunteers, including members of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles Las Vegas (CARP LV) and Generation Peace Academy (GPA), met at Ms. Pike-Nordstrom’s home, where she operates the All Friends Animal Sanctuary.

The sanctuary’s mission is to rescue and provide a safe, lifelong home to animals in danger of being slaughtered, neglected, and/or mistreated in Las Vegas. The sanctuary is currently home to more than fifty animals including: chickens, cows, goats, pigs, turkeys, turtles, sheep, and a sulcata tortoise. Following a sanctuary tour, the volunteers had up-close and-personal encounters with many of the animals as they removed manure in several areas, and cleaned, refilled food and water bins.