Silver Slipper steps up to help ‘Vans for Vets’

SLIDELL – When it comes to supporting Slidell charity events and non-profit work there are only a handful of area businesses that do as much as the Silver Slipper Casino & Hotel.
Whether you support gambling or not there is no doubt that the Silver Slipper Casino has been helping local organizations since they opened their doors over 15 years ago. But even the latest decision and announcement by Silver Slipper General Manager John Ferrucci to help a group was certainly something extra impressive.
Ferrucci has always been a top supporter of the United States veterans, so when he heard that a small area VFW Post, which had started a program to give veterans a ride to important appointments, had a van that had apparently gone its final mile he was quick to step in.
The Sam Ladner Memorial VFW Post 4808 began the “Van for Vets” program five years ago, but was using an aging van that seemed to always have repair problems. Finally, the van completely quit on them and the post members knew it would be far too costly to get it going again.
Post 4808 Commander Chris Cambre said they had several ideas to try and start raising money for another used van, leading to his contact with Ferrucci at the Slipper.
“John has helped us and supported us with a lot of things, so I called him and asked if he could help us out with a fundraiser,” he said.
The post offered to give the Silver Slipper “a lot of advertising with whatever we do,” and Ferrucci’s immediate remark was, “we have enough advertising,” and said he would get back to them.
Within one week Ferrucci called Cambre and said he had a van already purchased, leaving the post commander speechless.
“What they did at the Silver Slipper was way, way beyond our expectations,” Cambre told a crowd during a Veterans Day gathering last week. “Because of their generosity we can restart the program immediately, whereas we might have been months without it. And there are a lot of veterans who count on us to get them to doctor appointments and places they need to go.”
Coca-Cola also helped pay for the 2015 Ford Starcraft Starlight Transit van, which cost a little over $30,000, and can seat eight, along with two wheelchairs. The van has an electric wheelchair lift and only had 68,000 miles on it.
“Coke has a program where they partner with us for worthwhile events in the community,” Ferrucci said. “And I don’t think there could have been anything better than this, especially for us to bring it over to them on Veterans Day.”
The Silver Slipper has had a reputation since opening of supporting good community organizations and projects in their region from southern Mississippi to St. Tammany Parish. The company gives tens of thousands of dollars to Slidell non-profits every year, mostly with Ferrucci making the decisions.
“If it’s a good cause we generally say ‘yes’ to the request,” Ferrucci said. “I like to say that I’m only the hood ornament in this operation, but fortunately I have a boss who trusts what we are doing here and allows us the right to make these decisions. We are happy to help since these are the organizations that help so many people, a lot of whom are the ones who have supported us for all these years.”