In advance of the Apex Casino changing hands to an international gaming conglomerate, its owner and staff offered one last gift to local charities on Thursday morning.
And it was a big one.
Owner Bruce McPherson, staff relations manager Cindy McPherson and several others offered up approximately $52,000 in donations from the casino’s staff charity fund.
Organizations receiving monetary donations from the fund included the St. Albert Kinettes, St. Albert Victim Services, Sidekicks Mentoring, St. Albert Public Schools, the St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village, St. Albert Stop Abuse in Families (SAIF), the Cst. Wynn Endowment Fund and the St. Albert Salvation Army. The gift also included a number of coats for the Salvation Army’s Coats for Kids program. The staff has been making gifts of coats to this cause for several years.
Kinette spokesperson Kim Bedry said that the contribution would go toward buying turkeys for the service club’s annual Christmas hamper campaign, noting that the casino has been contributing to that effort for years now.
“They usually donate anywhere from 250 to 300. It’s very much appreciated. When we heard that the casino was sold, we went ‘oh no!’ Apex Casino has always been our platinum sponsor.”
SAIF director Doreen Slessor also commented on the casino staff’s “long term, ongoing” donations, adding that this week’s donation would fund more than 50 hours of counselling services.
“They’re such philanthropists and they’re so quiet about their philanthropy,” she stated.
Bruce McPherson and Cindy McPherson both confirmed that the fund has been a continuing staff effort for more than 15 years. It has benefitted from a variety of sources, including direct contributions by the staff members directly. Keeping it to themselves always felt appropriate, despite the good press that they knew would come should they publicly announce these donations before.
“We just don’t get out there and blow our horn with a lot of it,” Bruce said.
“We’ve always felt that you don’t give to get recognition – period. That’s not why you do it,” Cindy added.
The staff committee that oversaw this fund decided to make this last massive contribution to a variety of charities that had previously received their support. The only exception to this was the Cst. Wynn Endowment Fund, which will provide scholarships for youth looking to pursue careers in public service, including military, police and emergency services. It will be managed by the St. Albert Community Foundation.
Bruce McPherson ended by saying that it’s always been important to him and the casino’s staff to give back and be responsible, conscientious members of the community.
“We like it to benefit as many people as possible,” he said, adding that there is still a balance in the charity fund. He will encourage the new owners and managers with Century Casino to continue the charitable tradition.
“The industry we are in is sometimes not very highly thought of. It kind of softens our business the more we can contribute to the whole community. We’ve been very silent about it for a lot of years and probably wrongly so. We should be more vocal and we’re getting there now. It’s important that any successful business gives back to the community. More-so for us because of the business we’re in.”
