A little friendly competition and a lot of caring hearts were just the ingredients needed for Riverwalk Casino to make sure Warren County residents have the food they need this holiday season.

Thursday, the employees at Riverwalk put the finishing touches on their can food drive and donated more than 1,600 food items to the Storehouse Community Food Pantry.

The employees split into teams to see who could collect the most items and the Food and Beverage team claimed the championship belt and earned free t-shirts by collecting more than 600 of the items that were donated.

“We have done it before, but this is a new twist on it with the competition among departments and having a team effort,” Mary Beth Wilkes, senior director of marketing at Riverwalk, said. “Our employees went above and beyond with their contributions and we just recognize the caring they have offered up.”

The collected items were loaded into a semi truck Thursday morning and taken to the pantry where they will be used to help those in need throughout Warren County.

“The team makes the dream work so guess what, if you have a team effort you are going to be much more successful than you generally would,” Wilkes said. “A friendly competition is always a great thing.”

The food pantry, which is located at 907 South St., serves more than 4,000 people each year and provides food for about 40,000 meals.

“Riverwalk Casino is happy to be able to contribute to the community through this annual event,” Riverwalk general manager Ginny Tzotzolas said. “In addition, we’re proud of our team members for their generosity and support. Riverwalk Casino is pleased to do its part to support the community of Vicksburg and contribute to the fight against hunger.”