HELENA — Local casinos are coming together to support the victims and their families of the Owl Bar shooting, and every drink you enjoy donates money directly to the community of Anaconda.
"It was just a little hometown bar, and it could have been any one of us," said Mayme Folio, the operations manager for several local casinos.
Because Folio manages casinos and bars of her own, it hit close to home when she heard about the four innocent lives lost at a bar in a community not far from ours.
"It is such an unfortunate tragedy," Folio says. "So we came up with just over a few days ago, over the weekend, that we should donate all of our bar sales."
These bar sale donations will go towards funeral costs for the four victims and anything else the Anaconda community may need as they grieve.
"It was so sad when we started talking about it, because again, you have a customer come in in the afternoon, and just to know they could be gone in such a senseless tragedy, it upset us all," said Folio.
Those feelings of sadness inspired the fundraising efforts.
All bar sales, including non-alcoholic beverages and any cash donations made at the Loose Caboose, Four Js, and Draes casinos, will go straight to Anaconda.
Folio says, "We are hoping to go big or go home."
When Folio spoke with MTN, she said they had already raised around $600.
"We are accepting any donations and tallying up all the bar sales until we close," said Folio.
You can donate in Helena until 2 a.m., and in East Helena until 5 a.m.
