Rockford restaurants partner together in annual food drive

Local restaurants in Rockford have joined forces with the Rock River Valley Food Pantry to ensure families do not go hungry amid uncertainty over SNAP benefits.

The Olympic Tavern, a pub on the north side, started a food drive to feed the hungry, but this year the stakes are higher. Owner Zak Rotello initiated a call to action on Facebook, which garnered an overwhelming response.

“Unlike most years, the response has been absolutely overwhelming,” said Zak Rotello, owner of The Olympic Tavern. “Both online and in real life, we had three, four bins full of food within 24 hours after we put the call out.”

Following Rotello’s viral post, other restaurants, including Abreo, joined the effort. Paul Sletten, owner of Abreo, emphasized the ease of participating, stating, “I mean, restaurant people, we feed people. That’s what we do for a living.”

The Rock River Valley Food Pantry picks up donations once a week, and just two days into the call for action, donation bins are already overflowing.

“They’re going to come pick this up today, and it’s going to get refilled by the weekend,” Rotello noted, highlighting the community’s support. “It’s nice to know that when we put the call out for some support from our fans and our guests, that they showed up.”

Both businesses, along with Disco Chicken, Harvey Wallbangers, Six Finger Tattoos, Lucha Cantina, Rockford City Market and Severson Dells are also hosting donation drives.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WTVO. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WTVO staff before being published.