When I first moved to the Truckee Meadows in 2008, I wasn't familiar with the Veterans Guest House…read more My introduction to VGH was by my daughter's friend who attended Orvis School of Nursing. As a military brat, this organization holds a special place in my heart. I have donated to this cause for fifteen years, including posting a reminder daily on my Facebook page to vote for VGH to win a large donation from Home Depot years ago. And, yes, they won! Finally, I visited their wonderful facility at their annual open house on December 9, 2023. I am so pleased to see that we are helping our Veterans and their families with lodging while the Veteran receives medical attention at no cost to them! Many companies and other groups provide dinner nightly for those staying there! If you have a minute, you might want to take a quick tour to see how VGH "spends" our donations and I believe you will also be impressed. Please keep in mind that VGH operates solely on the donations of our local community! There are reading areas, a laundry room, TV rooms, and bedrooms from single beds to family-sized all with bathrooms, large open community areas like the kitchen and dining area. Please remember that our Veterans signed a blank check when they served our country and now we can help them!

I'm not a veteran, so I have never used this facility…read more But it's one of my favorite organizations to contribute to. Several times a year I drop off various greeting cards for the guests to use, as well as various dental items. They also accept cash and gift cards to several area stores. Throughout the year VGH has a few fund raisers. October is Boots to Fashion. A fabulous event at a Reno casino ballroom that includes a champagne three course lunch, raffle and auction items and of course a fashion show. Women veterans of all ages and branches donate their time walk the runway and show off the latest trends in women's clothing from local shops. A fabulous event that honors the many women in the military. Why are fund raisers needed ? Because VGH provides US military service veterans and their families a place to stay in Reno while they are receiving medical treatment at the VA Center or other area facilities. The House is like a small hotel with a common area living room and kitchen. It is not associated the Veterans Administration. Guests are suggested a $25 a night donation to help defray costs, but no one is refused for lack of funds. The house, located across the street from the VA Hospital, is a non-profit, and receives no state or federal money for its day to day operations. Huge kudos for everything the VGH does for the veterans. Thank you sir and mam for your service. For more info - veteransguesthouse.org

The American Legion Hall offers a nice space to hold events. It has several rooms to separate…read moreareas. Theres also a space outside A kitchen is available too and it's great to support our Vets!

We gave our today that you might have your tomorrow…read more "The Sparks American Legion Post was named for Lauren "Duby" Gilbert Reid who was killed in action on October 8, 1918. Lauren Gilbert Reid was born in Gold Hill, Storey County, Nevada on March 28th 1896. Although reared on the Comstock, he was well known in other western Nevada counties where he had a legion of friends. When the call to the colors came Reid entered military service on June 24, 1918. After training he was sent to France to serve with Company G, 308th Infantry of the 77th Division. The unit entered the fight of the Argonne forest on the extreme left end of the line in September 1918. It was the fate of this young soldier to be one of the men in the famous "Lost Battalion". He was wounded by shrapnel and died the next day of his wounds on October 8, 1918. On the gateway of a little cemetery in France is written these words: "We gave our today that you might have your tomorrow." The current Post building was built in 1980." The Duby Reid Sparks American Legion Post 30 is an active Veterans organization of some 160 members. Their goal is to provide important services to Veterans and our community. American Legion Post 30 members support the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, High School Junior ROTC, Operation Comfort Warrior, Honor Flight, and many more local and national charitable programs. They also have a Legion Riders affiliate. The building is available to American Legion members and the public for special events including wedding receptions, memorial services, celebration of life services, anniversary parties and more. They have tables, chairs, a kitchen and approximately 3500 square feet of usable space. Regular meetings are 7 pm the second Wednesday of each month. As an American Legion member, I treasure the American Legion as it is another valuable Veterans service organization.

Here's a way, both the anchor and the pixie dust, to save and help Veterans and bees at the same…read moretime. One of my young cousins, who is enigmatic without being egotistical, detached without being cold, self-reliant without being suspicious, a secular humanist who is spiritual without being religious, recently received their Honorable Discharge and asked me to help them with an idea for a business that they can own and operate. I suggested Bees4Vets, and that I and a couple other cousins would sponsor my cousin who has military Service-connected PTSD and TBI. "It is a 501.C.3 non-profit organization partnered with University of Nevada, Reno Agricultural Experiment Station and Research & Innovation. Bees4Vets' incorporated in and based in Sparks, Nevada to serve Veterans and first responder populations. They provide hands-on training in beekeeping to Veterans and first responders with PTSD and / or TBI." https://www.facebook.com/Bees4Vets/ It is organizations such as here that are on the front lines of fighting to reduce the staggering and horrifying number of Veterans who daily succumb to suicide at the rate of more than twice that of non-Veterans. Beekeeping has been known to be a good vocation or hobby for Veterans since at least the end of World War I as published in "Opportunity Monograph, Vocational Rehabilitation Series No. 37 Bee Keeping", April 1919. https://www.losangelescountybeekeepers.com/blog/2015/11/11/veterans-day-veterans-in-beekeeping.html Contact: https://bees4vets.org/contact-us/ If you are a Veteran or first responder with PTSD and / or TBI who would like to participate in this program, living in or close to North Western Nevada, contact 'em. If you are a counselor or other health professional with a Veteran or first responder client who would benefit from Bees4Vetsprogram, reach out to 'em. If you would like a Bees4Vets presentation at your school, office, social organization or church in North Western Nevada, contact 'em. If you would like to sponsor a bee hive or beekeeper student, contact them or make a donation at https://bees4vets.org/donate/ . If you are a gardener, and would like to provide a pollinator friendly garden, do the following: Fill Your Garden With Bee-Friendly Flowers One of the easiest ways to help out bees is by planting lots of bee-friendly flowers in your garden. Bees favour a wide range of flowering plants, which you can grow easily with from seedball bee mix from https://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/wildflower-mix/honey-bee-wildflower-seed-mix or https://www.seedsource.com/catalog/detail.asp?product_id=4505 or https://seedball.co.uk/product/bee-mix/ or https://www.bloomling.com/seedball/bee-mix-seedballs . Simply scatter the seedballs in a location of your choice, water, feed and watch them sprout! Provide Shelter For Bees Like most invertebrates, bees need shelter to nest and hibernate in. You can create your own bee shelter or buy a ready-made bee hotel - just hang it up in a sunny sheltered spot in your garden and watch bees filling the tubes during the spring and summer months. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/build-your-own-bee-hotel/ https://www.foxleas.com/make-a-bee-hotel.asp https://offgridworld.com/27-incredibly-beautiful-bee-hotels-and-why-you-should-build-one/ Pesticides are one of the key threats to bees, and so one way to help bees is to stop using them in your own garden. Some pests provide food for crucial pollinators, so leaving them to be controlled naturally is the best choice to help save bees. Help A Bee In Need Often during the summer months you may spot a solitary bee sitting unmoving on the ground. Whilst it is easy to presume it might be dead or dying, chances are it is actually exhausted and in need of a quick pick-me-up. You can help out a tired bee by mixing two tablespoons of white, granulated sugar with one tablespoon of water, placing it near the bee so it can help itself to this homemade energy drink. The greatest contribution of bees and other pollinators is the pollination of nearly three quarters of the plants that produce 90% of the world's food. A third of the world's food production depends on bees, i.e. every third spoonful of food depends on pollination. Where trees and woods are essential to filter our air, bees are vital to both pollinate the food we need to survive and pollinate most of the trees and flowers that provide habitats for wildlife. https://www.military.com/benefits/beekeeping-all-rage-these-programs-can-help-veterans-get-started.html#:~:text=In%201919%20as%20troops%20returned,of%20its%20recreational%20therapy%20programs The University of Minnesota Bee Veterans program is at https://beelab.umn.edu/bee-veterans

November is National Veterans & Military Family Month…read more An army marches on its stomach so I attended the Sun Valley Nevada Annual Veterans Appreciation Breakfast held here because none more cherished in a Veteran's life than those who lighten the burdens of Veterans from Veterans military Service. The place was clean; tablecloths, patriotic centerpieces and mints were placed; coffee, milk, orange juice, pancakes, butter and syrup, sausage, and some mighty delicious perfectly cooked bacon was served. Red, white or blue bags filled with valuable information and gifts for Veterans were distributed. Pins with the Nevada flag and US flag were given away. The breakfast was opened with Pledge of Allegiance. Here's my Shout Out to those who were there to serve Veterans: The Girl Scouts who graciously and courteously and lovingly served we Veterans. The three women from Catholic Charities who patiently provided valuable information for a wide variety of services for Veterans. The Sun Valley General Improvement District Board of Trustees Vice-Chair Susan Severt, Chair Sandra Ainsworth, Treasurer Carmen Ortiz, Secretary Reverend Joseph Barstow, and Trustee Michael Rider who all graciously and courteously and lovingly and unpretentiously attended to we Veterans. It is organization such as Sun Valley General Improvement District Board of Trustees that are on the front lines of fighting to reduce the staggering and horrifying number of Veterans who daily succumb to suicide at the rate of more than twice that of non-Veterans. The politicians and candidates and the representative from Washoe County Sheriffs' Office who attended. The politicians and candidates who did attend graciously put aside their political differences and made the breakfast only all about the Veterans. I saw that a couple Veterans who are unable to drive received rides home from a couple of the candidates. Next week I'm sure some oaf will disappoint me at some self-proclaimed 5-Star business with the fact that they have no clue what a Veteran is after I inquire as to their Veterans Discount, then insult me with their cavalier reason why they don't is respect is earned. For this moment though, the love and respect and support for Veterans here was so palpable that I was buoyed up by it and remained so for the rest of the day. Here this event was publicized as for Veterans and Veterans were placed front and center throughout the whole event by the hosts and attendees. The Veterans event I was at the day before, see https://www.yelp.com/biz/nevada-veterans-memorial-plaza-sparks, well, when it came time to cut the ribbon to formally open the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza, an ostentatious gaggle of overweening public officials, the vast majority of whom are NOT a Veteran (we Veterans are an extraordinarily rare 7% of the population), all rushed up and crowded together to get their pictures taken and to cut that ribbon all the while clearly doing their best to make it about themselves and how important they believe they are over the importance of Veterans. I strongly felt that ribbon cutting to formally open the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza was the role of ONLY Veterans, and definitely NOT any non-Veterans. There were certainly plenty of Veterans there who could have and should have been the ONLY ones to have cut that ribbon. Those public officials from the day before Veterans event at Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza can stand to learn a lot from the humble public officials who hosted today's Veterans Appreciation Breakfast who went out of their way to make it NOT about the public officials and only about and for Veterans. I've attended several of the past years breakfasts and this years was, as are so many organizations and businesses, struggling to overcome the ravages of Covid-19, so was a far pared-down event. I particularly enjoyed a past year's Veterans Appreciation Breakfast where the Washoe County Sheriff, who'd chosen NOT to Serve in America's Armed Forces, served me my breakfast. I hope next year's event brings back the local public officials and politicians with a stern warning to the politicians and public officials that the event is only about serving the Veterans, and brings back the couple dozen Veterans organizations and community resource groups that in years past completely lined the room's walls with their tables and volunteers. I also hope the future Veterans Appreciation Breakfasts brings back the press from previous years as the press also was missing from this year's Veterans Appreciation Breakfast. This Veterans Appreciation Breakfast is held every year about this time so check back for exactly what date and see you there next year. Dyk that Nevada's motto is All For Our Country?

MRC is a valuable resource in the local musicians community. Anyone in a band should consider this…read morefacility for rehearsal and networking. Great people and great space. I highly recommend it.

Outstanding facility that has been sorely needed by Reno/Sparks area musicians for years. Bill…read moreWoody and his staff have done a great job creating a safe, secure, professional space for musicians to rehearse, prep for shows, and produce professional quality video & audio recordings. Tired of practicing in the garage? Get yourself a studio at MRC! Want to practice for that "big show" on a large stage with full A/V support? Reserve some time on MRC's rehearsal stage! Need a solid demo video or professionally produced DVD? They've got an A/V suite that will knock yer socks off. I've rehearsed with a couple different bands at MRC and am always impressed with how professionally the place is managed and maintained. Everyone from small local bands to large, internationally touring acts have made use of these facilities, and with good reason. There just isn't anything close to this for several hundred miles, and MRC compares favorably with similar facilities in larger markets. Can't say enough good things about MRC.

We tried Soccer Sprouts for our 4-year-old after he changed schools and no longer had access to…read moreSoccer Shots. Unfortunately, the experience was extremely disappointing. The program felt very unorganized, and the coaches (mostly teenagers) did very little to engage or motivate the kids. On three separate occasions, we showed up for soccer only to find out upon arrival that there was no class because the space had been rented out for a private event or the practice had been moved to another location. There was absolutely no communication about these changes. For the price they charge, we expected a much more professional and reliable program. Overall, it was frustrating, overpriced, and not something we would recommend.

We are lucky to have this location close to our home! Our daughter had been in soccer sprouts for…read morealmost 2 years and it's something my husband and our friends look forward to weekly. It gives both the kids and the adults to come together for the adults to hang out and the kids to get their energy out. When the kids had a later morning class it was nice because the lunch items would be offered so we would have lunch right after soccer. However the past few seasons it's been earlier and earlier. We still make it a habit to hang out afterwards for all parties. They serve alcohol at all times while they are open where my husband and our friend bought a glass of beer to drink during one of the classes for those rough mornings! The sportsdome is a nice alternative for sports from being outside offering a big field, practice field (both turf), basketball courts which can also serve as volleyball courts or even for use for soccer sprouts a time or 2. Sometimes the facility can be very busy as there can be different sports simultaneously happening at the same time in all areas, so parking may be limited, but the parking lot is large you should not have much trouble finding parking. Ladies Bathrooms are also clean. They offer ladies and men as well as family bathrooms located across from the basketball courts. I always see them being clean. All in all, the facility is pretty tidy and offer many trash cans so you can throw away your trash without having to walk far away.

I played a season of women's league soccer here. My team was full of rookies, myself included, so…read morewe didn't set the bar too high for our success. Registration for the team was done online and wasn't too complicated. Before our first game we had to obtain players cards - the process was easy and only took a few moments. It was also easy to get another later in the season when I lost my original one (whoops!). You are required to give the card to the employee out of the field before the start of the game so they know that every player on the turf is registered. We played the full season and our games ranged from around 6PM to as late as 10PM. 10PM is brutal especially during winter. It was freezing outside and freezing inside. No matter their efforts the field area is still quite cold. My team and I warmed up in the bar area but a dedicated warm up space would be really nice as the bar area was quite crowded most times and made finding a place to stretch hard. We didn't have any of our games rescheduled so I appreciated that as I was worried we may face that concern. Luckily our schedule remained the same throughout the season. I will say as a new player the inconsistent refs were a challenge. One game a penalty would be called, the next nothing. One game they would add players based on the time elapsed and the score, they next they would tell us that only happens in the children's leagues. Not very helpful for those of us brand new to the game and trying to learn the rules and flow. I will say what I appreciate the most about this place is how understanding they were. I was asked to play on a team the following season and after one game realized it wasn't a smart move for my foot. I called and explained my situation and the employee was nice enough to refund my money for the season and let me off the hook of playing. That was very kind. I got a check in the mail about a week after I called and I was grateful for how easy they made it. I appreciate the customer service and it kind of out weighs the awkward parking, cold field and inconsistent refs.

Reno Sportsdome is a great option to get some physical activity in, regardless of the weather. They…read morehave a soccer sprouts program to introduce young kids to soccer and get them familiar and ready to join a team. There is also league play and every time I've been there is always a match going on. Another great perk here is the bar and "lounge" area where you can sit and enjoy a game or watch current soccer matches on the big screen. They have a good selection of beers on tap and even serve hot food and snacks. They have complimentary wifi which is a huge bonus since I've actually gotten work down while waiting for my son. I recommend Reno Sportsdome for all ages and suggest checking it out if you are at all interested in year round sports.

I was recently here to assist with an event. Listen the bad review is solely based on what…read morehappened. This is actually a large venue and really nice on the inside. BUT that does not excuse what took place. No one was at the venue until 15mins before it started so we couldn't setup. The Phone number we had kept going to voicemail and if it wasn't for someone who stopped by to speak to the owner about working together we would have never gotten inside to setup for the event. IDK what the story was as to why no one was there but really. Luckily it was still good. and luckily the food caterer was able to get the food out in time.

Looking for fellowship and a sense of purpose?…read more Well this is the place for you. They have a great time, help children and treat each other like family. I am proud to be a Shriner and invite you to be one also. www.beashrinernow.com