The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City will distribute 3,000 ShopRite gift cards valued at $100 each to many of its employees, showing their continued commitment through the very difficult times.

Those eligible for the gift card include all salary and hourly employees, as well as personnel who work on-call shifts and earn less than $50,000.

 

Joe Lupo, president of Hard Rock, knows how difficult it’s been for employees, many of whom are still struggling to get unemployment benefits.

"A lot of people are having a tough time and a lot of people are not getting their stimulus checks and unemployment at the same rate as everybody else, and what's really important is for families to be able to have food on the table," says Lupo.

 

Those eligible for the gift card include all salary and hourly employees, as well as personnel who work on-call shifts and earn less than $50,000.

“We really wanted to make sure, we thought about do we just do a Visa card where they can do anything, but we really wanted to make sure that they put food on the table and that was the priority in your soul,” says Lupo. “I’m working with ShopRite, they have been a good partner and we worked with them before in the local area.”

Nationally, the parent company of Hard Rock is handing out over $4 million in gift cards to its employees, all with the idea of keeping food on the table, all while bringing in very little money itself. But, safety comes first.

"Execution is really important right, we don't want people to be in groups,” says Lupo. We want social distancing. We want to ensure they are safe most importantly."

The employees in Atlantic City will be given the ShopRite gift cards beginning Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. They are asked to cover their faces and continue social distancing practices when they go to get their gift card.