By Breven Honda

In addition to the planning for the fall season, the Mesquite Senior Games made its community donations, which are made every year.

Mesquite Senior Games President Sandy Tudor said it’s important to be able to give back to the Mesquite community as a non-profit organization in town.

“We try to make sure that we give back, not only some of the money, but give back locally,” Tudor said.

As an example, the Mesquite Senior Games provided the ice makers at Pioneer Park and Old Mill Park.

The Mesquite Senior Games’ first of four donations or opportunity was donating $500 to the Senior Center Respite Program to assist caregivers.

“Our mission statement is to promote the health and activity of seniors 50 and over, and promote tourism in the city,” Tudor said. “We realized that not all of our seniors here in town are able to participate in our games.

“If you are a caregiver, you can bring the person you’re giving care to, to their program for a day, for part of a day, for a couple hours. That gives you, as the caregiver, the opportunity to have what they call respite, and do things that you need to do. They use it for, oh, they do activities and games, and I think they even feed the meal.”

The second $500 contribution went to the residents of Highland Manor and Beehive Homes through their annual Christmas in July event, coordinated by Colonial Property Management. The goal for the Christmas in July event is to add the items that are lost throughout the year, where it is food that is eaten or supplies that are used up.

The third contribution was to the Virgin Valley High School track and field team. They help out when the Mesquite Senior Games holds its track and field events on campus. So, they got the track team a pushcart to easily transport different items, especially the starting blocks, which can be heavy.

The fourth contribution was to the local historical society in the amount of $1,000 to their restoration project. The historical society, which leads the history tour events that take place in the spring, is working on restoring the Women’s Relief House and the Rock House. Both buildings, which are two of the 18 historic markers in town, were in rough shape.

When the Mesquite Senior Games went by both places during the history tours last spring, the participants were unable to get to close to the Women’s Relief House and the Rock House as a result of being vandalized.

Currently, both have fences around them. As a result, the Mesquite Senior Games stepped up in hopes of playing a part.

“We gave $1,000 to them for the restoration of those two buildings,” Tudor said. “While that doesn’t really qualify as helping seniors, I believe, and the board believes, that having a vibrant Historic District will help promote tourism. That’s why we gave it to them.”

Both donations to the Mesquite Historical Society and the Senior Respite Center Program were presented during the Mesquite City Council meeting on July 23.

Overall, the board got together to decide as a whole as to how the Mesquite Senior Games shall have an impact on the community and the city.

“In March, when we had our track meet, we talked to (VVHS track and field head coach Gary Hartman) and said, ‘What do you guys need?’” Tudor said. “Because we always want to give them something for all their help. We feed them lunch, but that’s hardly enough. (Hartman) told us in March that the cart would be a good thing for them.

“For the rest of them, we just sat as a board and talked about where we would best be served, where the community would best be served with our donations. So, it was just a consensus.”