Biggest Little Bulb Project Update

We did it! We met our goal and collected donations for 15,000 bulbs!

Special thanks to generous Rotarians, Sierra Field Services, Inc., NV Energy, Heart Stopper Harvey Fennell, One Nevada Credit Union, Eldorado Casino Resort, Silver Legacy, and Circus Circus for supporting this project. We can now say that this project was 100% funded by Rotary Club of Reno members and their businesses. It is a gift that will keep blooming year-after-year.

Even though the donations were collected and we met our goal, the project wasn’t done yet.

On Saturday, September 30th we had 80 volunteers meet at the Sculpture Garden in Bicentennial Park in downtown Reno. There we met up with Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful volunteers to plant as many bulbs as possible. We worked from 8:00 a.m. to noon and we planted 10,000 bulbs. But we weren’t done yet. We needed to get to 15,000.

Then on Saturday, October 28th we met again and this time we had 90 volunteers show up. We planted the last bulbs and raked up thousands of fall leaves.

Within 6 weeks this community project was created and executed. I am thankful for the Rotarians and businesses that donated to buy the bulbs and especially thankful for all the Rotary and Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful volunteers that came out and helped us with the park cleanup and planting days. Additional thanks go to ColorBlends for helping us with our extremely large bulb order. Can’t wait to see 15,000 flowers in downtown Reno next spring!

Proud to be a Rotarian!

Want a new career in event planning? Get out there and volunteer!

When people ask me about my career path they are always surprised to find out I went from producing a political television show to producing special events. They ask how I made the jump and I enthusiastically say – volunteer work!

Since my first year of high school I’ve been volunteering to plan special events. As a student at Wooster High School I was in leadership classes where we planned events, and I volunteered at the Italian Festival each year as part of the Partner in Education program with Eldorado Hotel Casino. I enjoyed volunteering at special events because it was fun, I learned new skills, met interesting people, and became knowledgeable about basic event logistics. I volunteered every time an opportunity was presented.

After college I became a Wrangler volunteer for Reno Rodeo Association and two years later a member. The more I volunteered to work on special events the more I realized it was a great creative outlet for me. After eight years producing Nevada NewsMakers television show, I decided it was time to make a change. I wanted to get out of politics and media to try something new. I started applying for marketing and community relations jobs. One day I realized I should also look at event planning. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” the famous Confucius quote became my motto.
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Every job listing I saw for event planning required several years of experience. Since I spent most of my free time since being a teenager volunteering I had an incredible list of experience. I had a wide variety of volunteer references from my experiences volunteering with Reno Rodeo, Reno Santa Crawl, Rotary Club of Reno, and several other non-profits. All my experience came from volunteering and it made me the best candidate. If you want a career in event planning one of the best ways to develop experience is through volunteer work.

My suggestion for anyone that wants to start a new career in event planning is to get out there and volunteer. Use the volunteer opportunities to learn new skills and build a network. I’ve met some of the most amazing people in my life while doing volunteer work and they have made a big difference as I went from one career to the next. I was one of the lucky ones that turned my hobby and passion for special event planning into a paying gig, and you can too, if you get out there and start building a great resume through volunteer work.

Volunteer Resources:
City of Sparks
Reno Rodeo
Great Reno Balloon Races
Hot August Nights
Barracuda Championship Golf Tournament

Know any other great special events looking for volunteers? Please post in the comments.