IN DEPTH: HID Global Among Those Pitching In to Assist Youth Charity

LAS VEGAS – For more than 20 years, Assistance League® of Las Vegas has nurtured children and teenagers in times of need with its volunteer and philanthropic efforts. For these and many other efforts, the League’s 292 members received a big thank you recently from HID Global and a few other security companies.

After experiencing repeated break-ins at its headquarters due to faulty mechanical locks, League management was desperate to install a new access control system. Contacting the Associated Locksmiths of America to research the cost of outfitting the Donald W. Reynolds Chapter Facility with new locks proved to be a fortunate circumstance for the League.

In conjunction with the ALOA Convention in Las Vegas, a cooperative organization comprising representatives from ALOA, OSI Security Devices and ACE Locksmiths, a state-of-the-art access control solution was donated to the Assistance League.

Now, the facility’s 13 doors are protected with an Omnilock Wireless Access Management System, donated by OSI Security Devices Inc. The system uses HID Global’s proximity technology and incorporates programmed access cards, donated by HID Global. Additionally, several Von Duprin exit devices and associated installation time were provided by Security Lock Distributors and ACE Locksmiths of Las Vegas.

The facility is one of the nation’s first nongovernmental commercial installations protected with the Omnilock door locks. The lock system includes a battery-operated mechanism that can be used with HID proximity cards, a touch-pad system, or both together, customized for each volunteer.

In addition, a log of entrants into the building, forced entries, outages and battery power is recorded by the software component of the system, providing increased access control intelligence to the League’s management.

The entire system enables end users to logon to the system and run their access control application remotely.

“With a very worthy cause and an opportunity to advance the training of ALOA members, it was not difficult to step up to the plate and donate the WAMS system for this project,” says Ron Siess, OSI Security Devices vice president of business development. “It was a very instructive day, and The Assistance League of Las Vegas was very grateful to all who contributed to the project.”

The project, equipment and installation labor is estimated to be worth in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 – money that otherwise would have had to come from the League’s coffers.

“This looked like a perfect opportunity to launch a new access control system,” says Jerry Newton, Ace Locksmiths’ CEO. “I like what the Assistance League does, and it’s great to see somebody trying to do some good.”

Last year its members logged more than 32,000 volunteer hours in support of projects such as “Operation School Bell,” which provides proper school clothes and supplies to underprivileged kids. In times of domestic violence or other emergencies when a child must be placed in a police vehicle, “Operation Hug” ensures that officers have a cuddly teddy bear on hand to soothe the child’s anxiety. The League’s “The Kids on The Block” program pays for trained teams of puppeteers who perform informational skits in schools to help young children confront drugs, gangs and cultural differences.

“To us, this is such a boon because the money we need is for the children,” says Assistance League volunteer Margy Purdue-Johnson.

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