St. Croix Casinos’ annual food drive total tops 200 tons

Tillie’s Annual Food Drive, formerly Coins for Cans, co-hosted by the three St. Croix Casinos, has lent a helping hand to food pantries in northwest Wisconsin since 1993.

This year’s drive, held June 1 to 7, was no exception: Thanks to almost 4,000 generous casino guests, St. Croix Casino Danbury, St. Croix Casino Hertel Express and St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake collected 14,000 pounds of food donations, 6,000 pounds more than in 2013.

“We experienced a large increase in donations this year because we offered a better incentive to our guests,” said St. Croix Casinos Director of Marketing Jamie Buck. “Casino guests donating at least two nonperishable food items received $5 in Turtle Bucks slot play. Guests donating five or more items received $10 in Turtle Bucks. Most of our guests donated at least five food items.”

Ms. Buck explained that the increase in donations this year helped the casinos to exceed 200 tons in total donations since the food drive’s inception in 1993. “Over the past 22 years, our annual food drive has collected and distributed 401,000 pounds of food to food pantries in the seven-county area surrounding our casino properties,” she said. “Topping the 200-ton mark is a real milestone, a real testament to the generosity of all of our guests.”

The casino delivery crew, Elizabeth Denniston, Patty Frie and Judy Warmanen of St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake, distributed the food donations to 23 charities in Barron, Burnett, Dunn, Polk, Sawyer, St. Croix and Washburn counties June 9-12. The following charities received food from this year’s drive: Ain-Da-Ing of Spooner, Amery Area Food Pantry of Amery, Barron Food Pantry of Barron, Birchwood Food Pantry of Birchwood, Burnett County Connections of Webster, Cameron Food Pantry of Cameron, Chetek Food Pantry of Chetek, Cumberland Food Pantry of Cumberland, Family Pathways of Frederic, Family Pathways of St. Croix Falls, Five Loaves Food Pantry of New Richmond, Hayward Community Food Pantry of Hayward, Lifeline Food Pantry of Clear Lake, Loaves and Fishes of Luck, The Open Cupboard of Osceola, St. Croix Falls Food Pantry of St. Croix Falls, Somerset Food Pantry of Somerset, Stone Lake Emergency Food Pantry of Hayward, Turtle Lake Food Pantry of Turtle Lake, Washburn County Connections of Spooner, Washburn County Food Pantry of Spooner, We Share Food Pantry of Rice Lake, and WestCAP of Boyceville.