Press of Atlantic City.com<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\nArt exhibit highlights ripples of casino closings in daily life<\/strong>by MICHELLE BRUNETTI POST, Staff Writer<\/span><\/span><\/em>ATLANTIC CITY \u2014 The images in \u201cNJ Soul of Hunger: The Atlantic City Story\u201d at the Noyes Arts Garage here are simple, but they convey the many-layered effect of casino closings on area families.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
Gary Howard, of Egg Harbor Township, shot a page in a dining guide to show a part of his life that ended with his 27-year job when the Showboat Atlantic City Casino closed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cI used to go out to eat once a week. That\u2019s gone now,\u201d said Howard, who had opened Showboat and worked in warehouse and receiving almost three decades. \u201cThere\u2019s a trickle-down effect to everybody. I\u2019m not putting money back into the local economy anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He also shot himself cutting his own hair, showing another way his cutbacks have a ripple effect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Rachel Swain, of Atlantic City, photographed an old pair of black slip-on shoes that she wears all the time now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She lost her job in environmental services at the Showboat when it closed last September, and was unemployed for months after working there 26 years. Finally in May, she found a new job at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, which pays considerably less than her former job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Their photos are part of a project sponsored by the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition and funded by a grant from the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The exhibit opened Friday with a news conference featuring four of eight local photographers, all recruited to participate by one of the social service agencies helping them get through hard times after the closing of four casinos and the layoffs of 8,000 casino workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cWe had an 11 percent increase in the number of pounds of food we distributed this last year,\u201d said Evelyn Benton, Executive Director of the FoodBank of New Jersey-Southern Branch in Egg Harbor Township.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Benton said Galloway Township\u2019s mobile food pantry has experienced the biggest increase in food distributed, going up 79 percent since the casino closings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cThese are not numbers,\u201d said Benton. \u201cThese are people and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cWhether they are individuals or families, we need everyone at the table to help them,\u201d said Jeanetta Warren, project coordinator of Catholic Charities\u2019 Atlantic City Crisis Committee. \u201cWe will continue to make noise about it so people don\u2019t forget.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Both Robert Worrell of Absecon and Shakir Abdussalaam, of Atlantic City, took photos of their wives and young children, who motivated them to keep looking for work after they either lost a casino job or had work hours cut back drastically.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Worrell\u2019s hours as a cook at Harrah\u2019s were so unreliable, he took a $6 per-hour pay cut and became a security guard to be guaranteed 40 hours a week and a steady paycheck.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
His wife lost her casino job, and they have a young son, so must also depend on help from Medicaid and the SNAP nutritional assistance program, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Abdussalaam started working at Borgata in 2007, but left for Revel, thinking it was a good move.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cNow that closed, and me and my wife just brought a child into this debacle of casino closings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Abdussalaam said he recently found a part-time job, but more should be done to help former casino workers find good-paying jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cWe worked hard and sent millions to Trenton every day,\u201d he said. \u201cWe deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Howard said he has been job hunting for almost a year now, and at age 61 often doesn\u2019t even get a response to the resumes he sends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He lost his home in the township and moved in with girlfriend Kathleen Kautz, a former daycare worker who is on disability for health issues, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Swain went back to school to be a certified nurses assistant, but after graduating and sending out 16 applications got no offers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
So she called a vice president at AtlantiCare, told him her story, and got a job offer in housekeeping soon after, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
She was hired in May, but life is still a struggle. She is making $10.91 an hour, she said, compared to $14.42 an hour at her casino job, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
NJAHC Director Adele LaTourette said her organization is doing similar events around the state, including one in Toms River focusing on families recovering from Hurricane Sandy. See njahc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Friday, August 21, 2015, NJ Soul of Hunger held a press event to launch an art exhibit at the Noyes Arts Garage in Atlantic City. The exhibit, “NJ Soul of Hunger: The Atlantic City Story” featured compelling photographs from eight Atlantic County residents, some who were former casino employees but all whose lives have been effected by the recent surge in casino closures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[69,8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n