While Rhodes feeds ego, many step up to stamp out hunger

When the Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive rolled around May 8, instead of pulling one bag together, I filled two. Knowing more and more people are losing jobs and homes, it seemed right to bump it up a little.

Yet few in my neighborhood seemed to be giving. I went to see my parents in Sun City Summerlin, and I saw few bags out as the mail carrier was arriving.

Seemed Las Vegas was showing its stingy side.

But I was so wrong.

In Southern Nevada, this year's take was a record, nearly doubling last year's effort of 223,000 pounds of food. The 2010 tally: 402,000 pounds. The food is donated to a coalition of 23 different organizations.

Las Vegans don't want locals to go hungry when times are tough.

Nobody tracks this by neighborhood, said David Rupert, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.

But anecdotally, the letter carriers themselves usually notice poorer neighborhoods seem to donate more than wealthier ones.

"The carriers are always impressed by the giving in the poorer neighborhoods," Rupert said.

That tracks with previous studies showing people with smaller incomes generally tend to donate proportionately more than people with larger incomes.

The increase is particularly noteworthy because so many nonprofits are seeing their donations decline in today's economy.

Heather Murren, co-founder of the Nevada Cancer Institute, said, "The fundraising environment is extraordinarily difficult, and comparing 2010 to prior years, they are down."

She said big donors are still giving, and some of the major foundations are giving. But it's tougher for younger philanthropic organizations like the institute, which opened in 2005, because it doesn't have as many pre-existing relationships with contributors. Some donors have restructured their donations or changed their payment schedule.

Only developer Jim Rhodes actually stiffed the institute.

Rhodes pledged $1 million to the institute in 2005, then promised a $10 million gift in 2007. But talk is cheap.

According to a lawsuit filed against him in 2009, he and his wife Glynda demanded the cancer institute honor them at its annual fundraiser in exchange for the $10 million.

The couple received scads of free publicity for their generous donation. Then they paid only $600,000 on the first $1 million and zippo on the $10 million. Rhodes blamed the downturn in the economy as the reason for stiffing the Nevada Cancer Institute.

The lawsuit alleged Rhodes was exploiting the institute to clean up his image. It has been tarnished by his association with corrupt former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny, as well as some of his business and campaign contribution practices.

When Rhodes placed some of his companies in bankruptcy, according to the lawsuit, he sought to tie the $10 million donation to his controversial development near the Red Rock National Conservation Area. It was a ploy to attempt to give the institute a financial interest in making sure the land received land use permits so he could develop his property, the institute alleged.

Murren said the institute decided not to pursue the civil case for now. It was dismissed in January, although it could be refiled. "Our feeling is that it was not a good use of our time and resources."

I've never been a fan of Rhodes, his operations or his associations. While recognizing he has property rights, what he is trying to do at Red Rock stinks. Equally smelly was his prancing around and demanding to be honored by the Nevada Cancer Institute.

Right now, food for the hungry should be, and apparently is, a priority for Southern Nevadans, particularly those who may have known hunger themselves.

A lot of people gave a little, compared to Rhodes, who promised a lot, but never delivered.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702- 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.