LAS VEGAS – As the official charity partner for the National Hardware Show that took place May 9 through May 11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Opportunity Village was able to collect donations during and after the show for the Opportunity Village Thrift Store, which provides jobs and paychecks to individuals in Southern Nevada with intellectual disabilities. In addition, Opportunity Village partnered with Green Our Planet, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit that created the nation’s largest school garden program, to collect gardening tools and supplies in support of its mission.
Opportunity Village invited Green Our Planet volunteers to assist with the collection of donations at the National Hardware Show, and to tour the Opportunity Village Thrift Store afterwards when the organization picked-up the donations from the show that included dozens of shovels, water tools and wheelbarrows.
About Opportunity Village
Mission: Opportunity Village is a not-for-profit organization that serves people within our community with significant intellectual disabilities, to enhance their lives and the lives of their families.
Opportunity Village was founded in 1954 by seven families who were determined to give their children with disabilities the best lives possible. Now, more than 60 years later, Opportunity Village is one of the most recognized and respected organizations of its type in the United States.
Nevada’s largest employer of people with disabilities, Opportunity Village serves nearly 2,000 individuals annually, providing vocational training, employment, habilitation and social recreation programs and services that make their lives more purposeful and interesting.
Opportunity Village citizens – individuals who were previously considered unemployable – work at Opportunity Village’s Employment Resource Centers and in jobs throughout the community, collectively earning wages amounting to more than $3.7 million in 2016. They are hard-working and diligent, proudly paying taxes and happily leading more fulfilling lives.
Primarily a self-funded organization, Opportunity Village generates the majority of its operational funding through its employment contracts and fundraising efforts such as the Magical Forest and Great Santa Run, saving Nevada taxpayers $37.4 million annually.
About Green Our Planet
Green Our Planet (GoP) is a non-profit conservation organization that operates a free environmental crowdfunding platform and also runs the largest school garden program in the United States. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the organization uses school gardens to teach students hands-on learning in science, nutrition, and conservation. To learn more about Green Our Planet, visit www.greenourplanet.org.