Mar 31, 2025 | Volunteer Profile
We‘re thrilled to welcome David Archer as the new Executive Director of the Serving Our Kids Foundation. David’s genuine passion for SOK’s mission and his proven executive skills will help us improve our overall operations, fundraising and FUN!
David’s two careers span the non-profit and for-profit. For more than 14 years, he served as President and CEO for several Chambers of Commerce across Southern California. David honed his leadership, networking, fundraising and event production expertise, and brought residents, businesses and government together to strengthen and grow their communities. Prior to that, David was a finance professional with Fortune 500 companies, such as Northrop Corporation and Bank of America.
“When I met Laurie and started learning about how food-insecurity threatens the health and the future of thousands of kids in our community, I knew I had to get involved,” said David. “I’m ready to do what I can to help people understand why Serving Our Kids is essential to fighting this problem and why they should join the fight.”
David is also our Executive Crusader who champions our mission and messages in public and in the media. He inspires people to join our crusade and builds new business and community partnerships that continuously increase our impact on food-insecure kids throughout Southern Nevada.
“Everyone at Serving Our Kids and every child we serve is going to benefit from David’s talent and leadership,” said CEO Laurie Tanakaya. “He has the experience and a track record of success that will help us grow and support children in our community for years to come.”
Mar 31, 2025 | Partner Profile
Serving Our Kids is honored to welcome Bay Law Injury Attorneys as our newest community partner. This Henderson law firm shares our deep commitment to helping children and is joining our fight to end child food insecurity in the Las Vegas valley.
Bay Law Injury Attorneys is a family-owned firm, built by Gokalp “Alp” Bayramoglu, his son Deniz, and daughter Nazly. Dedicated to serving their community, their commitment to excellence has been recognized with awards, such as Best Car Accident Lawyers in Henderson by Expertise.com and Best Accident Firm by the Sin City Chamber of Commerce.
“At our very first meeting, Bay Law agreed to become the Presenting Sponsor of our 17th Annual Bowl-A-Thon, and they scheduled a team bagging event,” said CEO Laurie Tanakaya. “They’re already making an important contribution to our mission.”
“We’re looking forward to a long-term partnership with this incredible organization,” said Deniz Bayramoglu, Managing Attorney of Bay Law. “We wanted to expand our outreach to the community, especially to children in need. And when we heard about how Serving Our Kids helps feed thousands of hungry kids every week… How could we not get involved?
“It’s always been important to us that our work extends beyond the courtroom and into our community,” Deniz added. “We built our business here and raised our families here. And we have a responsibility to give back to the people who make our community so special. Supporting Serving Our Kids lets us do this in a truly meaningful way.”
Mar 31, 2025 | Events
OK, maybe that isn’t the best headline. But it’s time for all Vegas valley keglers to polish your balls, whet your pencils and plan to attend the 17th Annual SOK Bowl-A-Thon.
Even if you don’t know the difference between a 7–10 split and a banana split, bowling is tons of fun for everyone. And our Bowl-A-Thon is a great way to support SOK’s mission to end child hunger in Southern Nevada.
This is one of our most popular events and only a few lanes are still available. So, register now and reserve your lane before they’re gone.
Save The Date:
Sunday April 27th
Become A Sponsor
A $3,000 Event Production Sponsor gets your company an extra-large name and logo banner, recognition on our website and social sites, shout-outs during the event, and a lane for your team of up to five bowlers.
A $1,500 Raffle Sponsor gets your company a name and logo banner, recognition on our website, social sites and at the event, and a lane for your team of up to five bowlers.
Sponsor A Lane
$600 reserves a lane for your team of up to five bowlers and gives you on-site and online recognition as a Lane Sponsor.
Register Your Team
$350 reserves a lane for your team of up to five bowlers.
Make The Scene:
Sunset Station Strike Zone
1301 West Sunset Road in Henderson
From 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Sign-in begins at 10:00 AM
Whether you’re Sergeant Strike, Captain Hook or Major Gutterball, join the fun at the 17th Annual SOK Bowl-A-Thon and help feed the dreams of thousands of hungry kids.
Mar 31, 2025 | Volunteer Spotlight
We value each and every one of our volunteer Crusaders. Without them, SOK couldn’t even hope to fulfill our mission to help end child hunger in Southern Nevada. We know the schools and the kids we serve appreciate them, too. But it’s rare that other people in the community recognize our volunteers for the critical work they do.
On March 13th, Dawn Langdon finished her meal bag deliveries and stopped at Trader Joe’s in Henderson. The cashier noticed Dawn’s uniform and asked about Serving Our Kids.
“Dawn has been a fantastic volunteer for more than two years,” said CEO Laurie Tanakaya. “She’s one of our regular drivers and takes meal bags to several schools each week. She fosters strong partnerships with these schools. She volunteers at our events. Any time we have a need, Dawn jumps in to help.”
As Dawn explained who we are and what we do, she saw the young grocery bagger named Cullen was also listening, and kinda staring at her. When he suddenly turned and walked away, Dawn thought she’d said something that Cullen didn’t like or maybe he had a “difference of opinion.”
Shortly after Dawn left the store, she heard a voice call out, “Wait!” and saw Cullen running to catch up with her. Had she left something at the checkout counter? No. He handed Dawn a bouquet of beautiful flowers and said, “Thank you for doing what you do.”
“I was speechless,” she wrote on social media. “Thank you Cullen for putting a smile on my face and a lil faith in my heart”
“We are so thankful Dawn is an SOK volunteer,” Laurie said. “And so thankful to Cullen for recognizing how special she is.”
Jan 3, 2025 | Awards
Our crusading crew of more than 200 generous, dedicated volunteers has won the 2024 Stars of Nevada – Governor’s Points of Light Award for Non-Profit Volunteer Program of the year. This is Nevada’s highest honor for extraordinary achievement in volunteerism and service.
The awards celebrate individuals and organizations who model the values of service, cooperation and compassion. They recognize volunteers who invest their time and talents in helping Nevada’s youth, seniors, veterans, serving military and first responders.
A panel of 22 judges from various Nevada communities and Nevada Volunteers, the primary resource center for volunteer organizations throughout the state, selected the winners in 10 categories.
“Serving Our Kids relies on our incredible team of volunteers to help create and deliver more than 4,000 weekend meal bags every week,” said SOK CEO Laurie Tanakaya. “They are so deserving of this award, they are true community crusaders.”
Laurie entered SOK in the competition and asked Volunteer Coordinator Fran Sarkett to represent SOK throughout the evaluation process. Fran was interviewed by the nominating committee and prepared a short “walk-up” video about SOK’s mission and volunteer crusaders. She was also nominated for Volunteer Manager of the Year.
“When people volunteer for an organization, they have to show up,” Fran stated. “Our people show up and they bring their friends. That’s the only way we get things done. The only way we can serve 4,000 hungry kids every week. I was thrilled just to learn we were a finalist.”
The awards ceremony, hosted by Caesar’s Entertainment on October 24th at the Paris Hotel and casino Champagne Ballroom, was a true Las Vegas event and a worthy tribute to thousands of volunteers who provide essential services and support in almost every community in Nevada. Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony was on hand to thank the volunteers and organizations for their hard work and dedication.
At the moment of truth, Fran and representatives from the two other finalist programs were led to the stage and waited in silence for the verdict.
“My heart was beating so fast,” Fran recalled. “Then it hit me. Holy cow! We’re first!”
The ballroom erupted in applause led by the cheers and fist pumping from Laurie, SOK Chairwoman Lauri Perdue, Vice Chairman and Treasurer Greg Hogan, and volunteer crusaders Karen Victor, Jackie Hunsaker, Andi Ahart, Andrea Stobierski and Pam Kowell at the SOK table. Fran’s walk-up video played as she stepped to the podium to accept the award.
“I was stunned,” Fran said. “But I remember thinking, just don’t say anything stupid!”
Her short speech was vintage Fran. She thanked SOK, our volunteer supervisors and all of our volunteer meal baggers. Then she instructed the audience to go to servingourkids.org and make a donation to support our 13th Annual Golf Tournament.
“I thought, I’m here, everyone’s paying attention, so I should talk about fundraising,” she said. “Hey, why not create some buzz about the Golf Ball Drop? The audience seemed to appreciate it!
“This is a really big deal,” she continued. “We’re the top non-profit volunteer program in the state. It means a lot to be recognized for doing a good job, but it also gives SOK and our mission a big boost. It generates more community awareness and hopefully more support and involvement.”
Fran believes that’s critical because the problem of food insecurity in Southern Nevada seems to be rapidly growing out of control. Last year, there were 90,000 food-insecure kids in Clark County alone. This year, there are 113,000.
“I can’t imagine how bad it would be if schools didn’t have weekday meal programs and Serving Our Kids didn’t provide weekend meal bags,” Fran said. “If this award helps us feed one more hungry kid for one school year, it’s worth a lot more than an Oscar.”
