Nevada Women Shine In Kansas City

NN&V Exclusive

(Lori Piotrowski) – The Silver State had lots of reasons to be proud last weekend. At the 36^th Biennial Convention of the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW), Nevada’s clubs were recognized at the local and state levels for excellence.

At the state level, the Nevada Federation of Republican Women (NvFRW) received the Betty Heitman Award for State Excellence in the Achievement category. These awards honor the achievements made in communications, outreach, programs, campaign activities and state functions.

Nevada also won its category of 11-24 Clubs for two other awards: Campaign Volunteer and Voter Registration. The Campaign Volunteer award recognizes volunteer hours members have donated to the Republican Party, Republican candidates or the NFRW.  Special recognition was given to Sherry Dilley of the Douglas County Republican Women for having donated the most volunteer hours. The Voter Registration award identifies clubs that excelled in registering Republican voters during registration events held in 2010 and 2011.

Membership awards are presented to states and clubs demonstrating excellence in membership development. Two clubs were mentioned in this division: North Valleys Republican Women, receiving the 10-50 Members club award; and Cheri Wood of Active Republican Women of Las Vegas, who received the Member Achievement Award.

Caring for America is a program for which each club develops its own plan for community outreach. In the national competition, Nevada won second place for the VT Train program. VT stands for Very Thoughtful. Carolee Berglan, Carson City Republican Women, is the Nevada Caring for America Chair.

Berglan explained that the VT Train starts at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City and runs from club to club around Nevada. There are seven “threads” that tie Nevada’s tapestry together.

1. Constitution – Awareness of
2. Involvement – with Local Communities
3. Leadership – Training
4. Literacy – Development of
5. Outreach – Attract new members
6. Patriotism – Actively demonstrate this
7. Troops/Veterans – Support and Appreciation

In the regional competition, North Valleys Republican Women won the Region 2 award.

The North Valleys club is just two-and-a-half years old, so its awards were especially sweet. Club member Pam Benzing was in Kansas City to accept the award for her club’s efforts to support overseas troops and their families and education. The club sent “care” packages to servicemen and women, developed a school lunch program for the children of those who were deployed, collected box tops and labels and contributed them to Stead Elementary school, and  hosted several local park picnics for the get out the vote effort and candidate exposure.

Individual club achievement awards were plentiful. Eight Nevada clubs earned the highest level of achievement—Diamond—for achieving excellence in membership development, campaign activities, community relations, programs, and club functions: Active Republican Women of Las Vegas, Boulder City Republican Women, Carson City Republican Women, Douglas County Republican Women, Republican Women of Las Vegas, Southern Hills Republican Women, Sparks Republican Women, and Spring Mountain Republican Women.

In the Gold category were Fernley Republican Women and Sierra Nevada Republican Women. A Silver award went to Pahrump Valley Republican Women, and Bronze to North Valleys Republican Women and Republican Women of Reno.