Describing its goal as “ambitious,” MGM Resorts International announced Tuesday that it donated five million meals to the communities in which it operates over the last eight years. This puts MGM ahead of its food-sustainability benchmark for the period.
According to Feeding America, a national charity, one in eight southern Nevadans is faced with food insecurity, some 274,000-plus people. MGM operates eight casinos on the Las Vegas Strip alone and 31 nationwide overall.
The company said that 1.2 million meal donations had been made just in 2023. Impacted communities included Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
“We are extremely proud of the environmental and social impacts of this program,” stated Chief People, Inclusion & Sustainability Officer Jyoti Chopra. “This incredible achievement is the result of innovation, creative drive, and the hard work of our people, all of which allows us to recover food of all types at a significant scale and help our neighbors struggling with food insecurity. In keeping with this year’s World Hunger Day theme, our company is committed to breaking the cycle of malnutrition and building a thriving world.”
MGM Resorts Feeding Forward was the vehicle for the donations. According to an MGM press release, “Many were the result of grants to organizations that focus on hunger relief and funded meals donated to local nonprofit organizations.” Unused food from participating MGM casinos also found its way into local kitchens and onto food shelves.
Although buffets have been on the way out in many casino-industry outposts, MGM says both its buffets and special events are sources that address “the major environmental concern of food waste, alongside the societal challenge of food insecurity.” Company-owned blast chillers received trays of prepared packaged foods, thereby ensuring that they’re distributed into the community without spoilage.
The meals are then donated to Three Square Food Bank, which services over 130 hunger-relief agencies through online ordering. Participating organizations include Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, HELP of Southern Nevada, Just One Project, Nevada Homeless Alliance, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas, and the United States Veterans Initiative.
In addition to the Las Vegas area, MGM’s charity extended to the Atlantic City area. Said Community FoodBank of New Jersey CEO Elizabeth McCarthy, “South Jersey, and particularly Atlantic City, have some of New Jersey’s highest rates of food insecurity. In the face of such great need, we’re grateful for our partnership with MGM Resorts. This five-million-meal milestone is an incredible testament to their commitment to ensuring that all of our neighbors in need have enough to eat.”
Added Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas CEO Alyson McCarthy, “With MGM Resorts’ commitment to providing hunger relief in our community, we are able to serve nearly 5,200 freshly prepared meals to children and families through our Taste of Home Dinner Program. This helps meet a nutritional need to keep their strength up during a difficult time and, more importantly, it enables families to fully focus on what is most important — the recovery of their child.”
