Supporters

THANK YOU TO THE MERUELO FAMILY

Born and raised to Cuban immigrants, Alex Meruelo grew up in Los Angeles with a passion for business. His career as an entrepreneur began in the pizza industry when he established the popular chain La Pizza Loca in 1985. From a single location, Meruelo grew La Pizza Loca into multiple franchises famous for their Latin twist on traditional pizza, ultimately becoming well known across Southern California's Hispanic community.

Since then, Meruelo’s restless spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation has fueled the growth of his diverse portfolio of companies for 40-years, revitalizing distressed businesses and creating what stands as the Meruelo Family of Companies. Today, Mr. Meruelo and his three children continue to own and oversee businesses in multiple sectors including entertainment, media, gaming and hospitality, construction, sports, real estate, banking, and food services.

Equal to their prominence in business, the Meruelo Family is also committed to improving the educational landscape within their local communities. Everyone deserves the opportunity to dream, grow, and become the best version of themselves. By focusing their philantrhopic efforts on improving education, the Meruelo’s are working to help bridge the gap of inequality and empower those from underrepresented backgrounds to excel in school.

The road to success was certainly not easy, but determination, passion, and growth mindset made everything possible. Today, the Meruelo Family can be found cheering on their hockey team, the Arizona Coyotes, and spending time with their dogs Lucy and Whiskey. When asked for advice by fellow entrepreneurs, Mr. Meruelo's message is simple: anything is possible when you relentlessly pursue your dreams.

The Meruelo family is focused on philanthropic efforts improving education and working to bridge the gap of inequality and empower those from underrepresented backgrounds.

The Meruelos donated $25,000 to the Hospitality Charitable Foundation, along with hosting ECF student interns at SAHARA Las Vegas.

Program Partnerships

HCF recently partnered with Dress for Success of Southern Nevada to further enhance our students’ opportunities for professional achievement. Dress for Success will outfit new and current female HCF scholarship recipients with professional attire and image consulting for job interviews throughout Las Vegas, along with providing additional job-readiness tips and skills for the workplace. HCF students will also receive a full week’s wardrobe when they are successful in landing their first job. Dress for Success is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing professional clothing, employment retention programs and valuable image consulting and interview skills to financially-underprivileged women seeking successful careers.

CDF, Inc HCF partners with CDF to further enhance our students’ opportunities for academic achievement. The goals of the CDF’s educational and enrichment programs are to promote multiethnic/multicultural awareness and acceptance within the community; to focus on coordination of outreach support efforts to diverse communities, to respond to and support the professional and educational needs of the disadvantaged. The Cultural Diversity Foundation will be sponsoring many educational programs; computer skills for job readiness, scholarship workshops, and community events such as the annual Educational Taste of Excellence: Wine Tasting, Spirits & Jazz Scholarship Fundraiser, the Golden Hand Service Awards, and Looking Through the Eyes of the Beholder: An artist’s Vision to support our vision and goals.

Since its inception in 1999, Speedway Children’s Charities has granted more than $2.5 million to local children’s causes throughout Southern Nevada. Grants are given to a variety of organizations and most likely have touched the life of someone you know. These funds were raised by the generous support of the racing, corporate and local communities.

M & M Labor, Inc. has donated their time to providing HCF’s office with janitorial services.

THANK YOU TO THE MERUELO FAMILY

Program Partnerships

Thank You to our 2024 Sponsors