Extra boxed meals from CES donated to Las Vegas-area nonprofits

Nearly 1,000 unopened boxed meals from last week’s CES show were donated to Southern Nevada nonprofits, conference organizers said in a Thursday news release.

Food from the trade show was provided to the Salvation Army of Southern Nevada and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Henderson, according to the release. Extra juices, soft drinks and other perishable items were also donated to the organizations.

Sodexo Live!, the hospitality partner that worked with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to put on the international consumer technology show from Jan. 5 to Jan. 7, said the food was left over after CES cut a day from its schedule because of COVID-19.

“The food donation was a good way to draw a positive from the situation and give back to the local community,” Steven Potts, regional vice president for Sodexo, said in a statement. “Our locally-based team always jumps at any chance we get to do something positive like this, and we’re thrilled that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and Consumer Technology Association (CTA) helped make it so seamless.”

Juan Salinas, the Salvation Army’s director of social services, said the organizers called the nonprofit to ask if it would accept the donation on Jan. 7. The boxed meals of sandwiches, wraps and chicken salads were used for the daily community meal, which usually serves about 250, and residents of the nonprofit’s on-site housing services.

The donation came at a welcome time. Staff and volunteers normally cook the meals daily, but three people were out sick with COVID-19 last week, he said.

“Especially with COVID, it means a lot because it’s been so helpful,” Salinas said. “We’re short-handed, so that was helpful because it comes in and we just go straight out. The clients really loved it.”

Remaining food from corporate or catered events can often be considered for donation to the organization, he said.

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.