JFSA Las Vegas a nonprofit serving Southern Nevada’s medically and financially hardest-hit residents, will hold its Help Hope Support Tzedakah Brunch on May 3.
The event will run in the Agave Ballroom at the Durango Casino & Resort, 6915 S. Durango Drive, and will raise money for JFSA Las Vegas’ food pantry, which is open to anyone who needs it, and distributed 795,050 pounds of food in 2025 supporting 19,881 individuals and families.
“If what we can do is offer you a little bit of food, so that you can save those dollars to pay other…bills, such as power bills, we know how important that is …that’s what we want to do,” JFSA Las Vegas Emergency Services Director Renea Parr said last year, discussing the food pantry.
JFSA Las Vegas also provides adoption, behavioral health services, emergency assistance, senior support, and oversees the Nevada Care Connection for Southern Nevada, which helps older adults and people with disabilities get resources and live independently. JFSA Las Vegas offers behavioral health support; in 2025, the organization provided 2,879 services & clients supported through counseling, educational assessments, and breast cancer support for individuals and families.
The luncheon will honor Fran Fine Ventura, Heidi Sarno Straus and Sharon Walker for their community advocacy and support.
“Fran Fine Ventura, Heidi Sarno Straus, and Sharon Walker embody the best of leadership and philanthropy, dedicating their time, talents, and resources to strengthening our community. We are thrilled to honor them at this year’s fundraising event,” said Talia Rothman, a JFSA board member and Help Hope Support event chair.
Luncheon reception and check-in are at 10 a.m.; the program follows at 11 a.m. Register here.
Here’s a brief look at the luncheon honorees.
Heidi Sarno Straus
Straus, a native Las Vegan, is the daughter of philanthropist Joyce Sarno Keys and Jay Sarno, who founded Caesars Palace and Circus Circus. Straus uses the lessons of the Holocaust to help Nevada’s students and community members better understand our common humanity and what it means to be an upstander. She recently exhibited at Gov. Joe Lombardo’s offices and has curated multiple exhibitions throughout the state through the Nevada Holocaust Museum by Nevada Center for Humanity. Straus has served as a trustee at The Meadows School, past president of Women’s Philanthropy and on Jewish Nevada’s board of directors. She now serves as Jewish Nevada’s Holocaust education chair and on Women’s Philanthropy’s national board.
Sharon Walker
Walker moved with her family from Toledo, Ohio, to Las Vegas in 1963. Her mother, Anne Walker, was a founding member of one of Las Vegas’ first Hadassah chapters in the 1960s. Walker studied business and marketing at the University of Arizona before returning to Las Vegas to work in the cashiers’ cages at the El Cortez, Flamingo, Desert Inn, and Horseshoe hotel-casinos. She later launched a Hadassah chapter for younger women, supporting a growing Jewish community. After working as a stockbroker in Denver and Las Vegas, she transitioned into real estate investing, where she remains active today. Walker also founded Jewish Women Leaders and Mentors Las Vegas and previously served on the board of directors for JFSA.
Fran Fine Ventura
Ventura was born in Cleveland and schooled in Arizona. She lived in New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco (where she attended law school); and Raleigh, North Carolina before moving to Las Vegas in 1983. Through the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and Leadership Training Institute at Camp B’nai B’rith, she learned that leadership, service and chutzpah could take her far. Ventura has been part of what is now Women’s Philanthropy since 1984 and was its chair from 2015 to 2017. She has served on the boards of Jewish Nevada and JFSA. She was an original Temple Beth Am member and served as its president. Professionally, Ventura has worked as an attorney and advocate, delivering consistent clarity, warmth and follow-through.
