Giving Machine raises $500K for Southern Nevada nonprofits
A vending machine in Summerlin that dispensed charitable donations to seven nonprofits raised nearly $740,000 during the holiday season, with a majority supporting Southern Nevada organizations, officials with the Giving Machine announced Tuesday.
The initiative was part of the Latter-day Saint Charities. The organization placed a large vending machine in Downtown Summerlin and encouraged passers-by to “buy” items to be donated to various causes.
LDS Charities estimates the machine saw 41,400 visitors — including rock band Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds, who gave the first donation at its launch in December — and had about 9,200 transactions.
Purchases ranged from $3 to $300. But instead of dispensing the selections — clothing and dental hygiene items, chickens or beehives — the contribution was allocated to nonprofit beneficiaries. Donors could also underwrite college admission applications or test score fees and job skills training.
More than $500,000 of that total was donated to local nonprofits Communities in Schools of Nevada, Eye Care 4 Kids, Three Square, Future Smiles and Opportunity Village. Global beneficiaries United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Church World Service Global received about $240,000.
Part of Future Smiles’ $55,451 gift will benefit 173 children in need of emergency dental care.
Executive Director Terri Chandler said the gift will help offset costs at the organization’s brick-and-mortar facility, the NWP Wellness Center at Wynn Elementary School. Most children are seen first at dental screenings set up in their schools, then get referred to the center if their needs are more severe.
“The whole goal is to treat the child as a whole person, to meet all their needs, to free them from pain and then to move them on to recovery, as opposed to just doing quick fixes and Band-Aids,” Chandler said.
Three Square raised the most funds from the machine, according to organizers. The Southern Nevada food bank received $195,440 for fresh produce and meal support, which they estimate will feed more than 208,500 people.
Also popular in the machine was Church World Service Global, which asked people to “purchase” beehives for $60 and chickens for $18 to give to families in developing countries. The Giving Machine recorded more than 4,200 purchases of three chickens.
Giving Machine launched in the Las Vegas area in 2019 and raised $823,000 — about $470,000 of which went to local nonprofits, according to the church. The project was on hiatus in 2020. This year, Las Vegas was one of 10 cities with the initiative.
Eye Care 4 Kids Executive Director Stephanie Kirby said the organization’s $98,280 donation will go toward eye exams, new eyeglasses and vision surgery for underserved children in the Clark County School District. Those children can get help by speaking with a school nurse, a Communities in Schools site coordinator if present at their school, or by reaching out to the nonprofit directly.
“When so many people don’t have insurance, or maybe they have medical insurance but not vision insurance, they go without,” Kirby said. “Sometimes it’s a choice between buying groceries for the month or getting some kind of corrective vision or dental services for a child. Food and housing and clothing wins out most of the time.”
Organizers plan to bring back the Giving Machine for the 2022 holiday season.
McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.
