Page 40 - Mississippi/Louisiana Gaming News - Fall, 2023

Contributions & Donations
Vicksburg casinos band together to provide meals
BILOXI — Casinos in Vicksburg banded together to help the community of Rolling Fork after an EF4 tornado devastated
the small town in the Mississippi Delta on the evening of March 24, 2023. Jennifer Curro, marketing director at Bally’s Vicksburg, said Bally’s partnered with Ameristar, Riverwalk and WaterView casinos in Vicksburg to provide meals to workers and residents in the area.
“Riverwalk, Ameristar and WaterView all chipped in, came together and did a great job,” Curro said. “We all worked together and served over 300 meals and it was a great success.”
Curro said the properties in Vicksburg had already been innovatively working together to help each other with staffing and community projects. The existing relationship between the casinos in the market made it easier to respond quickly to the situation in Rolling Fork. “Since we have been building on synergy with the other properties,” Curro said, “our GM (Derrius Morris) wanted to reach out to the other casinos to see if they would be willing to help. Everyone jumped in, no questions asked.”
Curro said the effort to help those
Employees from the four Vicksburg casinos prepared and served meals to those in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, who were affected by an EF4 tornado.
Employees from (left to right) Bally’s Vicksburg, Riverwalk Casino Hotel and WaterView Casino Hotel worked together serving meals in Rolling Fork, Mississippi.
impacted by the tornado also gave Perry Boyd a bit of a break. Boyd, the owner of the Gumbo Pot in Vicksburg, has prepared meals for the people in Rolling Fork daily since the disaster.
“These folks lost so much in that tornado,” Curro said. “Some lost their entire homes. They still need a ton of help. Companies that are willing to serve lunch, please help. They will need it for months and months still to come. Reach out to the United Way of Central West Mississippi and they can set you up with
how to help. It takes two hours of your time and is well worth it to see the faces of those people who are so grateful to get a meal.”
In a July 31 ABC News report, the American Red Cross stated that nearly 300 displaced Rolling Fork residents are still living in hotel or motel properties in northern Mississippi. The initial plan by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency calls for the housing of individuals and families for up to six months based on need.
Donating Blood
40 MISSISSIPPI GAMING NEWS FALL 2023
Beau Rivage partnered with the American Red Cross to host an employee blood drive in May. Staci Varnish (left) and Mary Montgomery (rght) were just two of the employees who donated blood. In total, 15 units of blood were collected by the American Red Cross, which is enough blood to potentially save 45 lives.