During educator Cliff Kehoe's stay at Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas, he and Carole Fisher, the facility's president and CEO, became quite friendly. Fisher promised Kehoe that she would honor his sense of mission and vision for high-risk elementary school students upon his death, and the hospice has since adopted a third-grade classroom at Robert Taylor Elementary in Henderson, Nev.

“He made an everlasting impression on me,” says Fisher, 53, a finalist for the Community Leadership Award.

“We make sure classes have supplies they need, so teachers don't have to spend out of their own pocket. … We make sure the children have what they need to start school and stay in school. That includes clothing at holiday time. The teachers will send out a wish list to the parents (asking), 'Do you need anything special for your child?' ”

Staff members at Nathan Adelson visit the classroom every so often to educate the students on everything from proper hygiene during cold and flu season to Nevada state history. Fisher's executive assistant coordinates that effort. “That's the secret to success, to have people around you,” she says. “I don't want to sound like I'm doing these wonderful things without an amazing team of people!”

Closer to home for the hospice, Fisher initiated the Angel Tree Program to help employees and their families through financial hard times. Hundreds of families have received $50,000 in support in the form of food, clothing, furniture, toys and other donations from their colleagues. And this year, they've expanded the program to do a back-to-school drive for school supplies, as well.

“Some of our employees work hard, and they don't get paid very high wages. I'm very mindful of that,” Fisher says, adding that in some cases, employee spouses work in the construction field, which has been very hard hit by Nevada's housing crash. “It's all anonymous, so you can't tell who it is (making the requests).”

When Fisher and her husband were caring for his mother, who ended up in hospice, she gained first-hand experience in working all day and then coming home to be a caregiver. That prompted her to form the Meal Delivery Program in partnership with the Three Square food bank. Social workers identify lower-income families in this predicament, when they're “too busy to get meals prepared, but most of them are at an income-level where good nutrition is hard for them.”

Karen Rubel, vice president for development at Nathan Adelson, says Fisher sees the organization as a community leader, not just a hospice. “You can get really myopic in your focus on your job. It allows us to feel like we're contributing,” she says. “Carole's very compassionate, she's very generous, she's always interested in doing the right things for our employees.”