Error processing SSI file
Job coach Wendy Yee, left, and Isiah Dawson of Detroit package leftover food from the MGM Grand Detroit Casino. The casino gave more than 40 tons of food to Gleaners food bank last year, mostly from its eight-station buffet .MGM donates meals to poor
The Detroit casino provides over 83,000 meals from its buffet in '04 to a food bank.
Leftovers are repackaged into one-pound meals, such as these stuffed cabbage.
Comment on this story
DETROIT -- The MGM Grand Detroit Casino gave away more than 83,000 meals last year. But that has nothing to do with free steak dinners for high rollers or comped trips to the buffet for steady players.
The downtown casino is donating huge amounts of leftover food -- mostly from its bounteous eight-station buffet -- to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Metro Detroit for distribution to the poor.
Beginning last year, MGM began rotating food from its buffet and packaging it into one-pound, single servings. The casino donated more than 40 tons of food -- mostly nutritious, high-protein fare -- in 2004.
In the past, MGM threw away such leftover food as it refreshed its buffet, said Jay Dee Clayton, MGM executive vice president. "We're just glad it can be used for a good purpose," Clayton said.
Besides the food, MGM provides the free use of a "cold room" -- a salad preparation room deep inside its food operations area where a constant 38-degree temperature is maintained for healthy food-handling conditions.
The packaging of the leftover food is handled by Alta Mirage, a Detroit nonprofit group.
The idea to repackage and donate the leftover food was the brainchild of Jeannine Camerer of Rock City Kitchen, a company that trains food workers in health safety issues and also works with food donation programs. Camerer said she first approached a Atlantic City, N.J., casino about her idea of donating food. But red tape and the sale of the casino put an end to the idea.
She then approached Clayton with the concept.
"He wanted to find something profoundly different to help the community," Camerer said. MGM ran a pilot program in 2003 to work out the kinks. It went into full operation in early 2004. Detroit's other two casinos do not offer similar food donation programs.
Clayton said he can see its program expanding in the future, particularly when MGM builds its permanent casino with a hotel and conference center.
"We believe we'll be able to increase the number of meals going out by at least 50 percent," he said. Clayton said most of the donated food comes from the buffet and the employee dining room.
Gleaners picks up the individually packed meals each morning from MGM. The nonprofit group freezes the meals at its warehouse, extending the meals' shelf life to about 12 days. Other food distribution programs pick up the meals from Gleaners and deliver the food mostly to homes.
"The idea is to package the food in individual portions (about 1 pound) that can be heated up in a microwave oven," said Darlene Paulauski, director of corporation relations for Gleaners and serves as president of Alta Mirage. "In this program, we know that all the food will be consumed without any waste. For many people, it can mean the difference between having a full stomach and going hungry."
About six men work on a three- to four-hour food packaging shift, seven days a week. "This is a great program to help these individuals enter the work force," said Stephen Batson, director of Motor City Clubhouse. "It's improving the quality of their lives while their self-esteem goes up.And it looks good on their job resume."
You can reach Joel J. Smith at (313) 222-2556 or jsmith@detnews.com.
Jeannine Camerer of Rock City Kitchen, Michael McFarlen and Jay Dee Clayton, both of MGM Grand, were instrumental in starting the casino's food donation program.
Copyright © 2005
The Detroit News.
Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated 12/19/2002).