Elvis's in Las Vegas take to the skies for Opportunity Village...via Flightlinez

Yesterday, donned
in scarves made by Opportunity Village, the “Official
Elvis of Las Vegas” Jesse Garon and MobileMinister.com Elvis
Roland August kicked off the ‘For
the Love of Art’ fundraiser at Fremont
Street Experience put on by Flightlinez
zipline ride, benefitting Opportunity Village. The event featured the beautiful scarves made by
citizens of Opportunity Village, along with baked goods from their culinary
program that were all for sale. Emergency
Arts also provided artwork for sale and had demonstrations by live
artists throughout the day. 

The connection to
Elvis? Many people don’t know that Opportunity Village made every scarf that
Elvis gave away from the stage as well as other items for the King of Rock and
Roll. Full story below! 

The event hosted
more than a thousand riders and raised just under $20,000 for the charity. Flightlinez has been doing monthly
charitable events since February, giving back more than $125,000 to local
charities. 

FULL ELVIS/OPPORTUNITY VILLAGE STORY

In the late ’60s Elvis
Presley’s manager, Colonel Parker, came to Opportunity Village for a tour and noticed that the citizens in the Employment Resource Center were working on sewing contracts. Colonel Parker then
contracted the charity to sew all of Elvis’ scarves that he would kiss and
throw out to his audience. Opportunity Village soon became the “official manufacturer of the Elvis
Presley Scarves.” Every scarf that Elvis gave away from stage came from Opportunity Village and were shipped to Elvis across the world. Elvis
himself even visited the charity. Additionally, Opportunity Village made all of the “Elvis Live at the Hilton”
promotional buttons and the ribbons that were on the hound dogs sold at the
Elvis performances and in his gift shop at the Las Vegas Hilton.  The Art Enrichment Program at Opportunity
Village, makes scarves using silk as a medium for artistic expression and their
many special artists have created beautiful scarves at Opportunity Village ever
since.

 

Photos attached, photo credit: Craig Tanaka