Ho-Chunk Gaming wanted to help the community during the government shutdown.
The Wittenberg-based casino, hotel and entertainment center started handing out free to-go meals at its River’s Edge Restaurant on Nov. 4. The meals ended Nov. 7 after SNAP benefits were reinstated that day for thousands of Wisconsin residents.
“It started because we realized that a lot of people in our community would be affected by federal cuts from the government,” said Jessica White Wing-Clark, Ho-Chunk Gaming’s senior manager of public relations. “We were looking to do something immediately. We had looked at other things to do to help, but this was something that we thought we could definitely start immediately and be able to support people around us.”
Community members showed up Nov. 4 to get chicken dumpling soup with vegetables, bread and crackers.
“Wednesday was ham and mashed potatoes,” White Wing-Clark said. “Thursday, we had what you’d call a summertime soup with ham, beans and dumplings. Friday was Italian night, and we had spaghetti with meat sauce and Italian bread.”
Ho-Chunk prepared 75-80 meals for each of the first two nights.
“We didn’t see as much on the third night and prepared 50 for Friday,” White Wing-Clark said. “We had a decent amount (the first night), but it definitely wasn’t as much as the next day. We had a huge turnout the next day. Thursday and Friday were a little less than Wednesday. SNAP benefits were reinstated on Friday, so I think that might have had an effect. As of right now, we’re not going to do the dinners, because everything’s reinstated. We’re going to keep an ear to the ground and figure out what’s going on next.”
White Wing-Clark said more than 100 meals were served over the four days and called the program a success.
“The people that were working said it was amazing to see people coming in giving what they could (as a donation),” she said. “People could give whether they could or not; it wasn’t expected. They said the people that were least expected to give anything gave the most. It was really touching.”
Some of the donations collected over the four days were earmarked for the food.
“Pay it forward is what we’re planning to do with that money,” White Wing-Clark said. “Purchasing food for food banks is more than likely what we’ll be doing with it.”
Community members showed their gratitude while picking up meals, according to White Wing-Clark.
“The people that were getting meals were extremely grateful,” she said. “How many times can you say thank you? I’m not sure, but that’s what we heard. The people that worked while we were distributing the food were definitely touched, because they weren’t expecting families to say, ‘Oh my gosh, thank you so much, this is amazing, you don’t know the impact for us.’
“Other people who were passing by would stop and ask questions. If they had cash, they’d give us some and say, ‘Here, this is going to somebody who needs it.’ That was a really good thing to see from other people.”
Ho-Chunk Gaming spread the word about the meals through social media, including its Facebook page.
“We helped the community and internally, it does leaps and bounds for us,” White Wing-Clark said. “All the employees across the board are happy to pitch in and help any way they can. Our goal is to be a steady leader and supporter as best we can and if that’s something we can do, we’ll do it. We will definitely be picking this up if there’s a need.”
