Annual Initiative Is Helping Nevada Families During The Holidays

And while helping is something we should all be doing all year round, the holiday season is especially important. Today Aquarius Casino Resort and Edgewater Casino Resort in Laughlin kick off their annual initiative to help Nevada families during the holidays.

It's the 12th annual “Feed-A-Family” program. Which provides boxes of food to families in need in the local Laughlin, Nevada area. Through partnerships with local food pantries and donations from the community, the program will help families throughout the holiday season.

Beginning Wednesday, November 1 and going through Saturday, December 25, both Aquarius Casino Resort and Edgewater Casino Resort will donate food based on True Rewards Points contributions. For every 25,000 True Rewards points contributed, either casino resort will purchase and donate one box of holiday food for a local family.

Each box of food is large enough to feed a family of four. They include either a ham or turkey as well as traditional holiday fixings. Fixings can be any mixture of potatoes, gravy, vegetables and stuffing. A holiday pie for dessert will also be in each box.

Those who are True Rewards members through Aquarius Casino Resort and Edgewater Casino Resort can participate. Members can help by contributing as many member points as they would like. Monetary donations are also accepted during the initiative. Point contributions and donations will be used to purchase the food that will make up the holiday boxes.

The “Feed-A-Family” program was first started in 2012. Since that time, Aquarius Casino Resort and Edgewater Casino Resort have helped to feed thousands of local families through the program. Local food banks, homeless programs and others have helped over the years. For more information about the program and how you can help, you can visit either casino's website. At www.AquariusCasinoResort.com and at www.Edgewater-Casino.com.

-Wendy Rush, 96.3KKLZ

First off, let me start by saying that this column is not supposed to be sad for the holidays, it’s supposed to be uplifting. I hope it helps.

The holidays are a tough time of year for those of us who have very few family members left, and have even lost family members this year.

When we were little kids spending our summers running through the sprinklers, then after that waiting anxiously for December, so we could finally tell Santa Claus what we wanted for Christmas, we never dreamed of a time that all of those people in our lives then, might not still be in our lives now.

My mom passed away 10 years ago, and that day is a sad day each year. But my father used to say, “Carlie, we always remember the sad dates and anniversaries better than we remember the good ones.” He said, not long before he died, that “we should do something positive to mark those sad dates, and turn them into something enjoyable! ”

It’s hard to think of anything but the sadness, and those we've lost, around the holidays, but I now try my damnedest to celebrate them, and focus on the most memorable times with them - which would probably mean nothing to anyone else.

One of the earliest Christmas's and Christmas gifts I remember getting from "Santa parents" - and one of the best - was my prized Woodburning set! At a whopping eight years old, I truly thought Woodburning was going to be the career for me! Until I decided to find out what would happen if I put the woodburning pen to the green shag carpet. If you don’t already know, 1970’s era shag carpet burned - more like melted - very easily, because there is nothing natural about it. It’s basically just one big synthetic forest.

I was reminded of that for years every time I raked the shag carpeting, because there was a permanent burn mark right near the couch, where I tested my skills. Safe to say I did not become a professional wood burner - if there is even such a thing.

But the next year, when I got my Easy Bake Oven, I knew I would be a professional chef! Until the “cooking element” *lightbulb* went out, and I thought I could just replace it with any old bulb. It didn’t work, and my little tiny muffins never cooked. However, I am a pretty damn good cook – no thanks to my easy bake oven.

My "Chrissy" doll, whose hair magically grew with the push of a button - and a yank of the hair - made me think about becoming the next "Vidal Sassoon!" Until I decided to cut and style her hair. My "Chrissy" doll was now my "Chrissy with a pixie" doll, and she didn't have much hair to magically grow.

Let's not even talk about the ballet classes - have you seen me dance?

Those silly holiday memories , birthday memories, and various occasions are etched in my brain, just as your own are, and believe it or not - those are what help me smile around the holidays. Sometimes not as much as I would like to, but each year more than I thought I would.

So, if you feel like you need help smiling this time of year, think back to one of those earliest, smallest memories, and whoever it was that gave you those memories. Raise a glass to them, have a meal in their honor, or just smile through the tears at the the memory itself.

Cheers, and happy holidays!

Not like you need to see these, but allow me to share some pictures of  "little Carla." Enjoy your eggnog!

-Carla Rea

Today that crib would be considered a "death trap." But back then it was my little safe haven.

Must have been a fancy affair, at the neighbor's.

Every little girl had the pink spongy curlers

Don't ask - I just knew that I had to have those go-go boots. And I was rocking them!

Easter fanciness, as I recall.

This was after I heard about, and saw a Picasso. I wanted to be an abstract painter. Notice the supplies in my painter's apron.

Me with Linda, Loretta, and Lisa. Still three of my dearest friends today. Our families did every holiday together for years!

After a day of running through the sprinklers, nothing better than ice cream!

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