 Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! Related Links
|
Gaming News
Casino Kitchen Extras Help Feed Area Hungry3 January 2001RENO, Nevada – Jan. 3, 2001 – As reported by the Associated Press: “At Reno's Center Street Mission, the term `soup kitchen’ no longer applies. These days, the menu more likely includes pork ribs, chicken, lo mein, even the occasional batch of popcorn shrimp. ”Technically, these are leftovers, food otherwise destined for a hotel trash bin. But it's not trash. And thanks to a partnership between the Mission and Boomtown Hotel Casino, items once discarded are instead salvaged to feed the hungry. It's all top-quality - the very same food more fortunate diners willingly pay for. ”…Each day at the close of business, Boomtown's kitchen staff carefully cools and stores unused buffet items to ensure they stay safe for consumption. Four or five days a week, volunteers from the Mission arrive in a small pickup truck to transport some 30 to 60 pounds of food 15 miles east to Reno. ”…Second Harvest, a national program that helps support and certify prepared-food recovery programs including Boomtown's, estimates 80 percent of all surplus food goes to waste nationally. ”In northern Nevada, where hotels generate and sometimes discard large quantities of unused food, liability concerns have dissuaded most from donating. Passage of the 1996 Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which limits such liability, changed that somewhat. ”In 1997, Boomtown's then-director of food and beverage Patrick Petrini decided a food donation program was worth trying. ”…[Food Bank president Cherie] Jamason says most surplus food in northern Nevada still goes to waste for logistical reasons. Prepared goods must be reheated only once and used within 48 hours; currently, no other agency can absorb them. Still, she said she hopes to see the Second Harvest program expand…” |