Red Rock Country Club donation supports educational field trips

     Sunrise Colony Co., developer of Red Rock Country Club in Summerlin, announced it will donate $250,000 over a five-year period to the Friends of Red Rock Canyon, a nonprofit group that will use the donations for elementary school field trips to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and other programs they have created with the Bureau of Land Management.
      "Sunrise Colony Co. is donating $250 for every home sold in the Red Rock Country Club community," Chris Nevins, country club project manager, said. "That's $40,000 so far ... Being neighbors of Red Rock Canyon, it is only natural we would support an educational program bringing kids out there."
      When the country club is complete, the developer's donations will total $250,000, according to William Bone, Sunrise Colony Co.'s chairman and chief executive officer.
      "The magnificent Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area is a local and a national treasure -- a place of timeless beauty," Bone said. "Sunrise Colony Co. is proud to be a private-sector partner working with the Friends of Red Rock Canyon and the BLM toward a common goal: helping to preserve and protect Red Rock Canyon now and in the future. It's our way of giving back to the Southern Nevada community, which has welcomed us so warmly.
      "I know how much the people of the Las Vegas Valley love Red Rock Canyon. I feel the same way. Our company is based here in Las Vegas. ... I have a strong personal interest in the quality of life in this valley. Red Rock Canyon is a big part of that."
      A portion of the funds will finance field trips to the canyon for elementary school pupils, mostly from at-risk schools, according to Jay Bartos, president of the Friends of Red Rock Canyon.
      "We provide the money to pay for the buses to bring the kids to Red Rock Canyon and some of the donation goes toward teacher education classes to help them plan a successful field trip," Bartos said. "We think that educating students about Red Rock Canyon is one way to ensure it is preserved."
      Volunteer and teacher training is scheduled for every Tuesday in February at the canyon's visitor's center, according to Cathy August, a ranger at the canyon and a BLM environmental education specialist.
      "It makes me feel so good to see kids developing an emotional connection to nature," August said. "I think it's more likely they will appreciate the natural world all their lives and want to protect it. Because of these donations ..., kids who have never even been out of their neighborhoods are seeing the wonders of Red Rock Canyon."
      Field trips to the canyon have influenced the lives of Halle Hewetson Elementary School pupils, according Cindy Rice, a counselor at the North Las Vegas school that brought nine third-grade classes to the canyon through the program.
      "It's so wonderful to see the kids' faces light up when they get their first glimpse of the canyon," Rice said.
      The donations have also been used to help publish a book for children about the Mojave Desert and the Red Rock Canyon area.
      The country club community offers five collections of one- and two-story homes, ranging from 2,100 to 8,000 square feet and priced from the low $300,000s to more than $1 million.
      A projected 1,100 homes will be built along two Arnold Palmer-designed, 18-hole golf courses. The 738-acre guard-gated community's amenities include an 8,000-square-foot sports club, an aquatic center with four pools, and a tennis center with nine courts including a stadium court. A 44,000-square-foot clubhouse will also be built.
      To visit the country club, take Sahara Avenue west, past Town Center Drive, to Red Rock Ranch Road and turn left. Turn right at Red Springs Drive. Models are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

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