Economy, military deployments challenge animal rescue groups
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Public education called key to keeping pets from being abandoned, killed
El Paso’s senior athletes still compete to win after all these years
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EL PASO – On a recent March morning, 76-year-old Armando Uranga sat on the gymnasium bleachers dripping sweat and catching his breath. He had just played a strenuous 20-minute game of basketball with three other competitors as part of this year’s El Paso Senior Games. After playing in the games for the last 12 years, Uranga considers them his fountain of youth. “I felt like I was in my backyard like when I was a kid, it was so much fun,” said Uranga, who has already competed in the 5K walk, the 3K walk and plans to participate in Saturday’s track and field event at Montwood High School. In its 31st year, the El Paso Senior Games are a beacon drawing residents to get out and be physically active or go watch the community’s senior athletes compete. With a variety of events, the games are for persons 50 years of age and older who participate in activities ranging from swimming to cycling, basketball to track and field.
Support for persons with Multiple Sclerosis exists in El Paso despite a lack of awareness
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EL PASO — Like many 18-year-olds, Vanessa Hernandez is going to college, but unlike most students sitting in the lecture hall she has been diagnosed with a chronic and disabling disease – Multiple Sclerosis (MS). “I was diagnosed with MS when I was nine years old,” said Hernandez, who is studying to become a nurse. “January 5, 2005 is the exact date.”
Multiple Sclerosis attacks the central nervous system, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The caused is believed to be an abnormal response of the body’s immune system along with environmental, genetic, and bacterial or viral factors. Though Hernandez looks like a normal college student MS does affect her studies.
The need for the holiday giving spirit is alive all year long
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EL PASO – This border city is well known for being charitable, especially when the holidays roll around, but El Paso has been hit hard by the weakened national economy, which means that community volunteering and donations are on a decline even though there is a greater need than ever. Nonprofit organizations such as the West Texas Food Bank, the Rescue Mission of El Paso and the Salvation Army need plenty of donations and volunteers year round, not only during the holiday season. Nick Maskill, a driver at the Rescue Mission of El Paso told Borderzine that many people donate during the holidays. “Everybody wants to give to somebody,” he said. Yet at other times, these nonprofit organizations have a hard time keeping up with the need in this growing city.