OTHELLO — With SNAP benefits up in the air, a lot of people are stressing about how they’re going to fill their fridges, and many others are looking for ways to help. Potholes Bar & Grill is taking some steps to bring the two together. 

“Here at the Potholes Bar and Grill, a lot of our customers already round up,” said Alexzander Gore, owner of Potholes Bar & Grill near Potholes State Park. “If a bill is $22.30, they round up to $25 and they still leave a tip. I decided to make that work for something instead of just being sporadic spare change. By doing that, each restaurant like ourselves, we can fund about 200 food boxes a month.” 

Gore hopes to convince other restaurants and bars to do the same thing, he said: let customers round up their bill and donate the extra to feed people in need. He’s in the process, he said, of creating the Raise the Bar Foundation to collect those funds and use them to buy, package and distribute food. 

“I was waiting until around November, December to start really digging into that and start the process of getting all the permits,” Gore said. “But then the SNAP situation hit and I thought, well, it is literally designed for this. It is designed to help (fill) in those gaps that state or federal funding just doesn't cover all the time.” 

Because the foundation isn’t yet official, Gore said, he’s got a plan for collecting donations, which he said he’s discussed with a lawyer. The bar will create media – karaoke footage, interviews, anything – on the subscription-based online platform Substack. 

“They can subscribe to that so that they're paying for a subscription for the content and not actually donating to the fund,” Gore said. “Then we take 100% of their subscription fees and we donate it directly.” 

The money will buy food at a discount from Potholes Bar & Grill’s regular suppliers, Gore said, and volunteers will package it up. The boxes will cost about $15 apiece and be sufficient to feed a family of four to six for a week. 

Gore has already been collecting from his own customers’ rounded-up checks, he said, and the response has been enthusiastic. There are more than 650 licensed food service establishments in Grant County, according to the Grant County Health District, and if just a few of them joined, Gore said, they could make a big impact for the thousands of families in Grant County who rely on SNAP benefits. 

“If we could scale to 50 locations, that covers most of it,” he said. “The way SNAP works, it usually runs out that third week of the month, and people are left for that last week trying to figure out, do I pay for my medication? Do I pay a bill? Do I pay for food? This box is designed to cover that.”