Local agency receives much needed donation

Kathie McKenna, executive director of Pahrump’s Nevada Outreach Training Organization summed up her thoughts in short order after the agency received a check in the amount of $1,504 from the Pahrump Nugget Hotel Casino on Thursday, Dec. 31.

“This couldn’t have come at a better time,” she said.

The agency, operating in the valley since 1995, provides a wide variety of services within the community, largely to women and children who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

“This is fabulous, especially at this time of year,” McKenna said. “We have really been impacted by grants being reduced, and we have seen such a spike in homelessness, domestic violence victims and people who are struggling just to keep ahead. This money will go to supporting our community, which is awesome, so it could not have come at a better time.”

Additionally, McKenna noted that the agency’s Family Resource Program will benefit greatly from the financial shot in the arm.

“We work with the Department of Child and Family Services to assist people who might need help with education, resources, therapy and things of that nature,” she said. “We give them a hand up because it’s not a handout.”

Pahrump Nugget Assistant General Manager Darin Yunek said the establishment simply wanted to assist various community agencies.

“We started the program, where we are taking any donations from our guests to give back to the community, and every quarter we are going to donate to a different charity in town that can do something good for the community,” he said. “This is something new and we just started it back in September when we began gathering donations from our guests just to do something good for our community and that’s our goal.”

Yunek also spoke about how the donations are collected.

“It’s a pretty simple program,” he noted. “When people cash out and get their tickets from the machine, they might have a couple of cents on it or a nickel or a dime, and we have various boxes throughout the casino where they can just donate that and we will gather them all up and pick a charity. We vote on which one we want to do, just to help bring something back for the community.”

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes