With a $5000 check Newmont Gold may have helped save a Wendover charity that has been vital to so many local families.
The check presented by Pamela Smith of Newmont Gold to Frank Sharp, Pastor Chris Lund and Deira Esparza will go toward offsetting operating costs of the thrift store/food bank.
Until the funding from Newmont there was rampant speculation that the charity might be closed. Times are especially tough in the winter when many Wendover casino workers see their schedules cut down to two or three working days a week.
And for many of Wendover’s working poor the Sharp’s food bank has meant the difference between a meal or going hungry.
A businessman in Wendover for over 30 years, Sharp started the thrift store and food bank in memory of his wife to cancer several years ago.
Her treatment involved three to four trips per week to Salt Lake City’s Huntsman Cancer Institute, Sharp said, and those travel costs piled up. After her death, he saw others fighting similar battles and wanted to help.
“My first idea was to raise money some way,” Sharp said, “So I started a thrift store.”
In response to community needs, that effort grew and Sharp soon added a food bank and social-service resource office.
The next day Newmont kept the holiday spirit going with an $8,500 donation to the Wendover Recreation District.
The funds will be used for the re- felting of pool tables and the purchase of a new pool table, 8 new video chairs, folding chairs and tables, a new foosball table, a new air hockey table, and new weights.
