Robert Dolan Accepts Honor from the Collaboration Center Foundation

Photography by Joseph Donato (Cashman Photo)

By Stacey Gualandi

“Don’t let anyone tell you who you are…live your life as you choose to live it!”

With those heartfelt words, Cashman Photo Enterprises owner and CEO Robert Dolan accepted a special honor at the 2023 Collaboration Center Foundation’s Night En Blanc event under the stars.

It was a picture-perfect “White Light Gala” on the newly renovated 5-acre Las Vegas Ranch campus when Dolan—and Cashman Photo, his home for 20 years—was recognized for his tireless efforts as both a business leader and community disability advocate.

“I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart because tonight means everything to me,” said Dolan upon accepting the award from his good friends Lynette Chappel and Joseph Amato.

In just four short years, the Collaboration Center Foundation has changed the lives of caregivers, family members, and individuals living every day with intellectual, developmental, physical, and learning disabilities of all ages in Nevada.

Lynda Tache is the CEO and co-founder of CCF. Her dedication to disabled people developed when her son Grant, 22, was born with many challenges but wasn’t diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, and other co-occurring issues until he was five years old!

Tache says with the proper support, resources, and funding, this growing multi-disability inclusive network will be a “one-stop shop for services” for families like hers. She witnessed firsthand how much her “new friend” Dolan cares and how instrumental he is in raising awareness.

“Robert and his [Cashman Photo] team are truly making a difference with their time, resources, and connections to help families that cannot help themselves,” said Tache. “All of us at CCF are truly fortunate to work with Robert and his team and hope to work together for many years to come.”

“When I say how grateful I am to you, Lynda, that’s just part of the story,” said Dolan. “I come from a family of incredible tenacity.”

For Dolan, CCF’s mission hits close to home. Literally.

He flashed back to his childhood growing up in a large Irish Catholic family consumed with obstacles. Overcoming those challenges fueled his passion for philanthropy and led him directly to Lynda, Grant, and the Center.

He shared the difficult story of his Uncle Buster, who was severely disabled both physically and mentally in the 1930s and institutionalized almost his entire life, “except on Sundays when they would bring him home for Sunday dinner.”

He also didn’t hold back while saluting his mother, Mary, who, at four years old, was in a kitchen fire that burned over 85 percent of her body with third and fourth-degree burns. He said she spent most of her life having corrective and reparative surgeries.

“[But] it made her an incredible person,” said Dolan. “No one could tell her no, especially when it came to her kids.”

Dolan’s sister Eileen, who was born with spina bifida (when the spine is on the outside), was paralyzed from the waist down but walked with crutches because the braces were holding her back. She went on to earn two master’s degrees in special education and became an advocate for people with disabilities.

“Here’s the thing…maybe she got it from my mom,” said Dolan. “[Eileen] was never handicapped, disabled, or stopped from doing anything she wanted. She never allowed anybody to tell her what she could or couldn’t do. Ever.”

But Dolan was genuinely emotional when talking about his brother Joe, who was born with many of the same traits as Lynda’s son Grant. He was hyperactive, didn’t fit in at regular schools or in special education, and had to take Ritalin for his behavioral issues.

While Grant is now thriving thanks to programs he helped shape at the Center, Dolan shared the sad news to the sold-out crowd that his brother had committed suicide years ago.

“Out of the entire family, when you looked into Joe’s eyes and heart, you knew he was a really good person,” said Dolan. “Had there been a Collaboration Center available then, things would have been different. But my parents made sure that we understood there were so many other people in much worse off shape than we were, so we were taught gratitude and to take it one day at a time.”

That is precisely what it will take to continue helping those with special needs here in Nevada. Dolan remains resilient because he says his work within the community is far from over.

He learned the hard way that support is sorely lacking, which only drives him to “keep tackling challenges head-on.”

And that is just the life he has chosen.

Congratulations on your well-deserved honor, Robert Dolan!!

To learn more, go to collablv.org

Be sure to check out the next issue of Chic Compass for our profile on the Collaboration Center Foundation!