The Pelham Senior Center recently got a financial boost from a longtime community business, Mayor Don Murphy announced during a July 12 Pelham City Council meeting.

Pelham’s Wal-Mart donated $1,000 to the Senior Center during the store’s “grand reopening” ceremony July 9, during which the store presented its new layout and updated appearance.

During the grand reopening, Wal-Mart officials unveiled one of the first “next generation” store designs in the country, detailed the store’s environmentally friendly recycling plan and explained the store’s new layout.

The city’s seniors will put the store’s donation toward purchasing a new bus, which the Senior Center will use for day trips and other social functions, said Senior Center Director Barbara Roberts.

“Wal-Mart had a grand reopening last Friday. They have remodeled everything,” Murphy said during the council meeting. “They presented the city’s Senior Center with a $1,000 check to use to buy a new bus.

“They are real city-oriented,” Murphy added of Wal-Mart. “They have always been there when we’ve needed them.”

With the donation, the Senior Center has now raised a little more than 25 percent of the bus’s estimated $55,000 price tag, Roberts said.

“Every little bit helps,” Roberts said of the donation. “If you look at it one way, the seniors have been fundraising for less than a year, and have already raised 25 percent of the cost.

“They will keep trying until they have reached their goal,” Roberts said. “They are a very diligent bunch.”

The Senior Center has several fundraising events planned throughout the next several months, including a garage sale from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 11. All money raised during the sale will benefit the Senior Center bus fund.

The center is also working on applying for several grants to benefit its cause.

“They intend to keep on fundraising. They have a garage sale and a bake sale scheduled for the fall,” Roberts said. “They have grants that they are going to apply for, but they won’t be able to apply for most of them until next year.

“They have an old van that seats 10 people, but they aren’t able to easily get in and out of it,” Roberts added. “Many of them use their personal vehicles for a lot of the trips we take.”