MODELS OF SERVICE To donate to Pin-ups for Vets or to purchase a calendar
Fundraising calendar for 2021 to have pair of pinup military vets from Vegas
TWO Las Vegas veterans will be featured in the 2021 Pin-ups for Vets calendar, which will raise money for hospitalized veterans.
Claudia Smith, 38, and Brittinay Lenhart, 31, are among 12 women chosen after a nationwide search for the nonprofit’s 15th calendar edition. Pin-ups for Vets produces photo calendars inspired by the World War II era and sells them for $15.
“It was an inspiration,” said Smith, a single mother of three. “We’re still trying to help our veterans. We’re proud to have served our country, and we’re there to support each other. I love that, women supporting women.”
Smith, who moved to Las Vegas from Mexico at age 11 with her her family, served in the Navy for four years right after high school.
“My mom would tell me, ‘You need to do better than me … you got to do better for yourself,’ and that always stuck in my head,” Smith said.
“So I said, ‘You know what? I want to do better for myself. I’m going
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to join the military. I want to serve my country. I am going to travel the world, and I’m going to get money for college,’ ” she said. “And you know what? I think serving in the military was the best thing I could have done for myself.”
After her service, which included two deployments in the western Pacific Ocean, Smith attended UNLV and received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice while being a single mother to her first child.
She now works as a paralegal and is Ms. February in next year’s calendar.
Lenhart served in the Air Force for eight years as a jet engine mechanic. She also was a flight attendant for former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
“I think Pin-ups are always super cute,” Lenhart said. “I never knew I could pull that off, but it was fun. And I just love the fact that the nonprofit would go to VA hospitals prior to COVID.”
Since leaving the Air Force in 2014, the Topock, Arizona, native has earned her master’s in organizational leadership from Ashford University in San Diego.
“I realized I wanted to work for myself and just went for it,” she said.
Lenhart moved to Las Vegas three years ago and owns a consulting company. She is Ms. December in the 2021 calendar.
According to the nonprofit’s website, Gina Elise founded the organization to honor her “Granpa Lou,” who served in the Army in World War II.
It has donated over $70,000 to
help Veterans Affairs hospitals purchase new therapy equipment and to help pay for veterans’ health care.
Models in the past have visited VA hospitals around the country to cheer up injured and sick veterans, but that hasn’t been possible this year because of the pandemic.
The nonprofit also ships care packages to troops deployed around the globe and does makeovers for female veterans and military wives to show appreciation and boost morale.