LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Academy Award-nominated actor Jeremy Renner has played many roles throughout his career.
Some of his most well-known include Hawkeye from The Avengers, Staff Sergeant William James from The Hurt Locker, and Mike McLusky from Mayor Of Kingstown.
However, one of his most meaningful roles might be as a philanthropist.
On the Disney+ show Rennervations, he and his team converted unused vehicles into vehicles that non-profits and organizations can use. For example, they converted a bus into a mobile recreation center for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada.
That's just one example of work he has done over the years, mostly out of the limelight.
Creating a foundation has been on Renner's mind for years but he didn't take the next step until after he recovered from a snowplow accident, which nearly killed him on New Year's Day 2023.
Since then he has recovered from his injuries and even used his experiences to warn students about the dangers of opioid medications. Last month, he spoke to over 700 students in Washoe County and Douglas County as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration's "One Pill Can Kill" campaign.
"I had to take opioids to take the pain away. The most difficult thing I have ever endured was to get off that pain medication. But I did it as soon as I possibly could. It was three days of crying and shivering. It was awful. But I'm glad I did," Renner said. "Someone always has your back and I'm one of them. I guarantee it."
Renner finally realized his goal of creating his own foundation when the The RennerVation Foundation officially launched in December 2023. The foundation is focused on helping foster kids and at-risk youth across Nevada.
Renner's sister Kym is the President and CEO while Shana Rogers is the Vice President. Both have extensive experience working with kids.
"We both currently still work for a division of Child Family Services in the child welfare space. We wanted to be able to break down barriers and the red tape to get these kids as many services as possible," Rogers told me on Friday. "We wanted to hit the ground running and we've had a lot of success. We've had a lot of help from local nonprofits. The Nevada community, everyone comes together to really help these kids."
On any given day, there are approximately 3,400 kids in foster care in Clark County and 800 kids in foster care in Washoe County. There also aren't enough foster homes for those kids. For example, Clark County still needs nearly 300 foster families while Washoe County needs about 400 foster families.
(You can learn more about how to become a foster parent in Clark County here and in Washoe County here.)
Rogers explained that the government can only do so much to help, which is where foundations and nonprofit organizations step in.
"We saw there weren't a lot of resources out there that could provide opportunities for these children," Rogers said. "We wanted to step in and help these kids find what they want to do as adults and give them ways to explore who they are so they can become adults that are successful and they can thrive as they grow up."
How can I get involved?
The RennerVation Foundation is hosting its inaugural Heroes Fore Kids Charity Weekend in Las Vegas on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20.
Festivities kick off on Oct. 19 with a Welcome Celebration & Pairings Party at The Venetian Resort Juliet Cocktail Room and a Celebrity High-Stakes Poker Showdown at The Venetian Resort Poker Room.
On Oct. 20, the Celebrity Golf Classic will tee off at Bears Best Golf Club with a shotgun start at noon.
Some of the celebrities that will be playing include Michael Chiklis, Sugar Ray Leonard, Rob Riggle, Brian Green, Jimmy Darts, Mekhi Phifer, Timothy Busfield, Greg Maddux, Richard Kind, Chris Harrison, Brendan Fehr, and Festus Ezeli.
The All-Star Concert will be later that night at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas at 7:45 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Artists scheduled to perform include Gavin Rossdale, Robin Thicke, Robin Zander, Rob Base, Richard Page, Skip Martin, The Scarlet Opera, and Electric Avenue.
You can learn more about the charity weekend and buy tickets here.
Event organizers are also offering free tickets to public servants.
You can learn more, including how to register for tickets, here.
The foundation is also getting foster parents involved.
"They do so much for our community. They're often overlooked, not appreciated," Rogers said. "We really want to appreciate them. We're giving them free tickets to our concert."
While most of the events will be for those 21 and older, Rogers said the adults aren't going to have all the fun.
"We're also hosting a Bowling Bonanza for Clark County foster youth," Rogers said. "I called every single family and they are looking forward to it. The kids are really excited."
What's next for the RennerVation Foundation?
This summer, the RennerVation Foundation hosted its first Camp RennerVation.
"We hosted 110 youth at Lake Tahoe. We partnered with the University of Nevada, Reno, utilizing their 4-H camp facility and it was fantastic," Rogers said. "We had therapeutic programming. We had the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus come up. We had some athletes come up. The kids had a really wonderful time and it was great seeing them grow from day one to the last day."
Rogers said the foundation wants to expand that programming.
"We would really like to have year-round camps in the summer, winter, and fall for all children," Rogers said. "We're working with Clark County to find ways to transport our youth here in Southern Nevada up north for our camps."
For the next camp sessions, they're also looking at having previous campers become counselors in training.
"A lot of these kids have trauma-related behavior and individuals that aren't necessarily aware of what that is, what that looks like, or why that is, they may not understand the same way as people who have had those experiences," Rogers said. "We really like to find counselors to help mentor our children that have had those experiences so they can say hey, I know what you're going through. I know where you've been. This is how I overcame it. They can help empower those kids to have successful futures."
WEB EXTRA: Highlights from Camp RennerVation 2024
The RennerVation Foundation is also looking at other ways to help.
"We also have another program that we will be implementing called Youth On The Move. Jeremy has a lot of vehicles so we have some buses that we would like to donate and we're creating programs where schools will be able to utilize our buses and take kids on field trips and find ways to learn outside of the classroom."
The future is bright and Rogers said they can't wait to see what's ahead.
"At the end of the day, it's about the kids and what we can do for our kids to give them joy, happiness, and have them embrace a childhood filled with opportunities and fun things."
