Meet the Rural Nevada Finalists for the 2013 Governor’s Points of Light Awards!

Each year, Nevada Volunteers is overwhelmed by the amount of nominations and the inspiring stories submitted for the Governor’s Points of Light Awards. Our distinguished panel of judges selected the following three finalists for this year. These three individuals will be honored at the awards luncheon on January 18, 2013, and the recipient of the category will be announced. Congratulations to the finalists and thank you for your service to our communities!

Rural Nevada Individual Finalists for the

2013 Governor’s Points of Light Awards

Nancy Barrett (Incline Village)

Nancy Barrett has served with the Northern Nevada Chapter of the American Red Cross for two years, and it constantly working to make the community safer. During the Caughlin and Washoe Drive fires, she helped manage the shelters and ensured that hundreds of evacuees had a safe place to go. Along with the rest of the mass care team, Nancy helped to conduct shelter surveys in all of Washoe County, Douglas County, and Carson City. She became the DSAC (Disaster Services Advisory Committee) Co-Chair, where she leads the Red Cross chapter’s disaster services and advises volunteers on how we can be better prepared. Nancy is also the Mass Care Co-Lead, which is responsible for our sheltering, feeding, and reunification services during a disaster. Nancy recently traveled to New Jersey to help Red Cross respond to Super Storm Sandy. She was also recently recognized as one of Glamour’s women of the year in New York City. Nancy works tirelessly every day to ensure to safety of everyone around her, whether she is home in Nevada or on disaster assignment in New Jersey. Her passion for the mission of the Red Cross motivates everyone around her.

Alaine Kliewer-Nye (Winnemucca)

Alaine has been a huge and integral part of the Winnemucca community and the non-profit events in that town. Without her, the summer food service program, where children 18 and younger eat free nutritious lunches, would not have happened. She heads the Family Stability Council, which is a group of people who look for new ways to improve the town and its resources, and works tirelessly to bring much needed events to Winnemucca. Those events include but are not limited to the Miles for Smiles program, which brings much needed dental work to the children of Winnemucca. Alaine also holds a monthly community breakfast in which many local agencies gather to discuss better ways to help those in need. She provides assistance and guidance to individuals who are seeking social security. Alaine is a wonderful asset to the Winnemucca community’s needy.

Fern Payne (Pahrump)

Fern Payne has run the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program in the rural area of Pahrump for more than 15 years. In 2007 64% of 18,377 taxpayers in the City of Pahrump were considered low income. This is the population that Fern’s volunteers assisted with their income tax preparation for free. In the last four years the volunteers that Fern Payne recruited and trained have assisted more than 1,654 taxpayers. That assistance brought back much- needed money to the local community in the amount of $965,859.00 in refunds and $84,214.00 of Earned Income Tax Credit. She continues to train, prepare returns, and conduct quality review of all tax returns in the City of Pahrump. In the first 12 years of its operation, the Pahrump Tax Aides was the only Volunteer Income Assistance (VITA) Program in the City of Pahrump. Fern consistently helps low income and elderly taxpayers in the preparation of their tax returns for free.

Interested in finding out who becomes the recipient of the Governor’s Points of Light Award in the Rural Nevada Individual category? Click here for more information!