Beatty VFW post donates $2,000 to town’s schools

Earlier this month, Beatty’s local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post made a generous contribution to help support the rural Nevada town’s schools’ special needs programs.

“The principal, teachers and the staff all spoke about how generous it was,” Carlotta Marinaro told the Pahrump Valley Times. “Even the kids were excited.”

Marinaro is the general manager of VFW John Strozzi Post No. 12108 in Beatty. The VFW post is named in honor of Sgt. John C. Strozzi, a Beatty native who died in the line of duty during World War II.

“At the VFW, we help all our veterans, and then they also do a lot for the community,” Marinaro explained. “We have a bar and a kitchen, and we use the money from that to put back to either the veterans or the community.”

On Dec. 8, Marinaro presented $2,000 from VFW Post No. 12108 during the Beatty school’s monthly assembly. The donation was split evenly between Beatty High School and the town’s elementary/middle school so that each grade level and its corresponding students could benefit from the aid.

“It’s a rural town, so they don’t have a lot of extra activities,” Marinaro said about the importance of the donation. “Even as far as classes, you don’t have the abundance that a bigger high school would have and the resources that a bigger high school would have. So they’re always trying to do stuff for the kids to educate them in a different way.”

Beatty VFW Commander George Whirley donated $500 to Beatty High School and $500 to Beatty Elementary/Middle School. The Beatty VFW Auxiliary matched the commander’s donation with $500 each to the high school and the elementary/middle school.

“Everyone thanked the VFW, I got messages and phone calls,” Marinaro enthused. “They were reaching out and just showing their appreciation.”

To learn more about the Beatty VFW post, visit beattyvfw.com.

For more information about Beatty’s schools, visit beatty.nye.k12.nv.us.

More information about the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization is available at vfw.org.

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com