Generous donations presented at city council mtg.

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

Animal shelter organizations and the City’s first responders, were the recipients of two generous donations presented at the Mesquite City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 10.

The first check presentation was the result of the Mesquite Women’s History and Culture Center (WHCC) 2022 Preen Your Pet calendar contest and fundraiser which took place during the months of June and July.

“The money for these awards was raised by people entering their beloved pets, including beautiful photos, in this fundraiser,” explained WHCC President Carol Saldivar. “That was followed by voting by the general public for the pets who would win a half page spread on the 2022 calendar. It was through the generosity of these pet owners and their friends that we can make these donations.”

WHCC Board Chair Jean Watkins presented three checks for $1,015.66 each to Friends of Mesquite Animal Shelter, Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue and the We Care For Animals organization.

Accepting the check for Mesquite Animal Shelter was Joanne Migliozzi. Accepting for Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue was Joan Dunkle. And accepting for We Care For Animals was Karen Taylor.

These animal care organization are dedicated to improving the life of pets in our community,” Watkins said.

The 2022 Preen Your Pet calendar is set to go on sale this fall.

The second presentation consisted of donation checks to Mesquite Police Department and the Department of Fire and Rescue.

These funds were proceeds from the first annual Best of the Best First Responders Charity Golf Tournament, organized by Eagle’s Landing and held last May.

In a short introductory comment, Councilman Brian Wursten said that he had been approached by Eagle’s Landing Mesquite store manager Kenny Huff with the idea of organizing a golf tournament fundraiser for local first responders.

“They asked if I would be a part of it and I jumped at the opportunity,” Wursten said. “I thought it was a wonderful idea.”

Unfortunately, Wursten found that he had to be out of town during the week of the tournament. So he enlisted Mark Whetzel, Director of Golf at the Conestoga Golf Course.

“Mark gladly took it over for me and did a wonderful job with this tournament,” Wursten said.

Both Huff and Whetzel came forward to make the check presentations.

Huff said that the idea for the tournament had come from Eagle’s Landing owner Mark Yardley. “He came to me about three years ago with this idea,” Huff said. “That was pre-COVID. It took us a while to put it all together and finally this year we were able to do it. And I think the timing was pretty good considering all that our first responders have been through in the past year or so.”

Huff presented checks for $3750 each to the two local entities. Accepting the check for the Mesquite Police Department was Chief MaQuade Chesley. Accepting for the Mesquite Fire and Rescue Dept. was Chief Jayson Andrus.

“It was a lot of fun,” Huff said of the tournament. “We plan to do it again next year in May. And the more teams that we get, the more money we will be able to donate to our first responders.”