Heart Hand Craft Fair continues supporting Nevada Outreach

This year marks a big change for two of the valley’s annual craft fairs, with former organizer Randi Case making the decision to step down from her longtime Heart &Hand and Spooky Jingles craft shows.

However, before she was ready to make it official, Case arranged to ensure the shows – and their original philanthropic goal - would continue. She handed the events over to the Nevada Outreach Training Organization, the nonprofit for which these fairs have always been a source of valuable support.

With family support staffer Darlene Hatfield at the helm, Nevada Outreach hosted the first of these semi-annual shows this past Mother’s Day weekend, Friday and Saturday, May 8 and 9 at the Bob Ruud Community Center. There were more than 30 vendors who participated to set up booths filled with artistic items, crafty creations, tempting homemade treats and more.

“I would say things went well overall. We had a total of 33 vendors,” Hatfield told the Pahrump Valley Times after the show came to a close.

Although estimating public attendance at an event of this type, which does not charge admission, is difficult, Hatfield said the community center had a near-constant flow of people browsing the booths throughout the craft fair and the feedback from the vendors themselves was quite positive.

“One vendor told me this was the best show she’s ever had, which was very nice to hear!” she enthused. “I’d like to thank the vendors for bringing their beautiful products and all of the community members who came in to shop. I’d also like to thank Randi for all of her help.”

Aside from the opportunity for area crafters to sell their wares and for members of the public to find something unique and handmade, the Heart &Hand Craft Fair operates as a diaper donation drive, as well. This was something that Case implemented when first establishing her fairs and which she was staunch about retaining when considering who would assume her shows going forward. Considering that those diapers have always gone to Nevada Outreach, it was an easy decision for Case to transition organization of the fairs to the nonprofit.

“We received a total of 33 packages of baby wipes and overall, there were 2,120 diapers donated in a variety of sizes,” Hatfield reported of the Heart &Hand’s results. “We also received one cash donation of $30 to buy additional diapers.”

The need for diapers is never-ending, however, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #10054 and its auxiliary are readying to throw their support behind the cause, too, with a dinner fundraiser slated for the end of this month.

Dubbed “Disco Inferno”, the dinner will be $13 per plate, which includes beef stroganoff, salad, roll and dessert. There will be a 50/50 drawing and gift basket raffle, as well, with all proceeds to benefit Nevada Outreach. One package of a minimum of 26 diapers in sizes 3 to 7 will earn the donor one entry into the raffle. Intelligent Sound will be at the post for live music.

The VFW’s Disco Inferno dinner fundraiser will take place Saturday, May 30 at the post, 4651 Homestead Road. Dinner will be served from 5 to 7 p.m., with music to run from 7 to 10 p.m.

For more information on Nevada Outreach and its programs, visit NevadaOutreach.org or call 775-751-1118. The Nevada Outreach office is located at 621 S. Blagg Road.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com