Las Vegas Restaurant Week raising funds for hungry individuals
Some 315,000 hungry individuals live in Clark, Esmeralda, Nye and Lincoln counties, according to Three Square, the only food bank that serves Southern Nevada.
The group’s chief financial officer, Andy Schuricht, explained how the state’s arid conditions create obstacles in local crop production, which leads to high prices for out-of-state goods.
“One of the toughest challenges in the fight against hunger in Southern Nevada is the fact we are in a desert with few food manufacturers and agricultural resources,” he said. “Every pound of food brought into the area is brought in for a purpose, and it costs money to do so.”
Monetary insecurity, Schuricht said, is what makes obtaining food so challenging for locals. The unemployment rate in the Las Vegas-Paradise metropolitan area was 7.1 percent in April. It has steadily declined in recent years. In April 2013, Nevada had the highest rate of unemployment in the United States at 9.6 percent.
“Hunger is directly correlated with unemployment. Southern Nevada was hit very hard by the recession, and though we are seeing improvement, there are still people who are struggling to get back on their feet,” he said. “The recovery process has also changed the face of hunger because there are people who do have jobs, but may be underemployed and have to make tough decisions about which bills to pay.”
Last year, Three Square provided about 28 million meals to local families. But the bank’s 2014 census report found that 55.3 million meals are needed to end the area’s current need for food.
To close that gap, the organization holds several events throughout the year to generate funds for goods. Its latest effort, known as Las Vegas Restaurant Week, kicked off June 15.
Three Square’s ninth annual fundraiser was created to provide locals and visitors alike with a chance to help solve the public issue of hunger in Southern Nevada.
Through the end of this week, participating restaurants on and off the Strip are dishing up special three-course meals at fixed prices between $20.15 and $50.15. Schuricht said the nearly 200 listed eateries will donate $4 to $6 of every meal toward the food bank’s effort of feeding hungry individuals in the area’s four counties.
“With events like Las Vegas Restaurant Week, we are able to reach audiences across the (Las Vegas) Valley, as well as visitors from across the country, who visit the participating restaurants,” Schuricht said.
From its first run in 2007 to last year, Restaurant Week has raised about $786,000, translating to more than 2.3 million meals. Schuricht said more than $170,000 was raised in 2014 alone.
In addition to providing food, the organization and its partners have helped reunite families.
At a meeting last Tuesday, District D County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly said that through Three Square and the Clark County Department of Family Services, 1,500 families have been reunited after the children were removed from their homes and put into foster care because of a lack of food.
Weekly presented the food bank’s chief operating officer, Dan Williams, with a proclamation declaring this month as National Reunification Month.
In 2013, the food bank served 100,000 people every month. Last year, it rose to 137,000 — nearly 7 percent of Southern Nevada’s population. Williams said the organization could not do it alone.
“Three Square does not only bring food to the thousands of people that need it every month, but it really allows the agency partners to do their life changing and lifesaving work,” Williams said, thanking the Department of Family Services.
Contact Review-Journal writer May Ortega at (702) 387-2908. Follow @MayVOrtega on Twitter.
