On a November afternoon, staff from American Nevada Company gathered to pack 140 home-made sandwiches, pairs of winter socks, beanies, chips, granola bars, bottles of water and wet wipes into bags for distribution by the Shine a Light foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps the hundreds of people who have taken refuge in the underground flood channels beneath Las Vegas.
The Shine a Light foundation provides outreach and placement services through direct visits into the storm-drain system to engage this underserved, hidden population on a personal level. Shine a Light offers instant placement with access to treatment for all clients, working with partners to provide help as soon as someone asks for it. Once a client chooses to participate, the case management system is designed to walk them through two years of services, from the point of contact through all individual stages of the community re-entry process. The goal is to ensure no one feels they must go back to their previous situation.
In addition to the items American Nevada Company staff provided, true to their name, Shine A Light also distributes flashlights, headlamps and AA and AAA batteries.
As part of a real estate development and property management company, helping ease the plight of the unhoused population seemed like an obvious choice to Natalie Stagnitta, vice president of property management.
“We chose the Shine a Light Foundation because we loved the fact their programming helps with outreach as well as rehabilitation,” she said. “We recognize there are people who need help, who find themselves down and out. Being in the business of managing properties, we know the importance of having a space to live and work, both to a community and to individuals.”
Isabella Clinger, assistant property manager, said it’s an organization everyone on staff agreed to immediately and unanimously from the jump.
“We can be loud for the homeless in a way they can’t be loud for themselves,” Clinger said. “It’s something everyone could get behind and participate in, making a difference toward solving a larger problem.”
