Angels of Las Vegas

We are applying for the Elevate Prize to expand and better service our community through our community programming. We seek to expand our COVID-19 care package program; our Holistic Wellness, Self Care, Yoga and Meditation, Nutrition and support groups and programming; as well as increase community benefit events like our biweekly Feed Vegas meal program, and our art therapy events such as our group painting classes. We plan to expand our resources so that we can provide significantly more meals, nutritious snacks, PPE, vitamins, wigs, mastectomy bras, and other necessary resources to our community during this difficult time. We strive to be a source of support and light to our most vulnerable populations and plan to not only continue these efforts, but grow them to better meet the needs of our community.

Aynalem (Aynee) is Ethiopian-American, the Founder and Executive Director of Angels of Las Vegas, a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire hope to those affected by all types of cancer and life-threatening illness.  She is an accomplished business woman, visionary thinker, unshakable optimist, believes in a bright future and the ability to build it together by helping others. Aynee is very active in the Las Vegas community. She served as Community Outreach Chair on the Board of the National Association of Women Business Owners of Nevada (NAWBO) for two years, on the Board of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Nevada’s Young Professional Society, and currently the Director of African Diaspora of Las Vegas.  For her dedication and community service, Aynee was awarded the 2012 Athena Award for “Young and Professional Youth Leadership."  She became the 2012 finalist for the Rising Star Award for “Women of Distinction Award for National Association of Women Business Owners.”  She was named in newsmakers for Las Vegas Review Journal in March 2013, and inducted into the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Nevada Hall of Fame in 2013. Aynee hopes that her story inspires others to build businesses and serve their local community.

Our efforts focus specifically on the zero hunger, no poverty and good health and wellbeing areas of focus. We service the terminally ill, those facing life-threatening illness (including COVID-19), low-income and homeless families, providing access to crucial resources and support services. During this pandemic, the population we serve has grown substantially as COVID-19 has ravaged through our city, provider accessibility has decreased, and countless families are facing job loss, financial hardship, and barriers to insurance access which has forced these families to go without care and face great health disparities. We provide case management, connecting families with critical resources, food, clothing, nutrition, vitamins, PPE, and support services and groups to promote holistic wellness. We are addressing this global problem locally as well as in Ethiopia, where access to PPE, nutrition and food is a huge barrier to staying well through this pandemic. By starting with these communities, we hope to inspire others to expand this work in other states and countries, building partnerships with them along the way.

Our approach meets people where they are at. We provide services and host events in areas of town that best serve our clients, and deliver resources to them at their homes. We host both in person and virtual events as we work with populations that are very vulnerable to COVID-19. We are one of the only facilities in town offering free wig donations, fitting and cuts for our clients and the only agency offering holistic wellness, nutrition and self-care courses free of charge to the terminally ill and those facing life-threatening illnesses in Las Vegas. We recognize that this population’s needs are specialized and to adequately support them, we have adapted our services to support them and meet them where they are to promote better emotional, spiritual and physical outcomes while improving perceived quality of life through these support services.

We have an impact on humanity starting with our local community and have expanded our reach to our founder’s roots in Ethiopia. We provide support and social services that change the lives of our clients, and improve psychological, psychosocial, health and spiritual outcomes for clients and their families alike. We help them establish food security and access to nutrition, vitamins and PPE through our biweekly Feed Vegas and COVID-19 Care Package programs. Through our Wellness Programs, we provide support groups, access to nutrition education, yoga and meditation, self-care, and art-therapy based courses and events. Through our many support services, we also improve perceived quality of life and help bring a sense of normalcy during this difficult time for families through programs like our wig donation, health and beauty, and toy donation programs. Through these efforts, we know that we are impacting humanity, starting with our own communities.