Wanee Theater selling concessions to help the hungry

Bud Johnson is selling concessions to help keep his theater, the Wanee Theater going, and to help his town’s hungry.

“I figure if I can pay my employees, which I am doing, and they’re not working, everybody stays home, and I give the food pantry a dollar, if I break even with that, I’ll be happy,” Johnson said. “And I’ll be here when it’s time to open back up.”

“It’s good that someone’s giving out to people less fortunate, so it’s just a really good cause,” Meagan Robbins, a Kewanee resident said.

Despite his uncertainty of what the film industry will do in the coming weeks, and not knowing when moviegoers can fill up the aisles again, Johnson says that doing what he can to help out during the crisis is a tribute to his late wife.

“My wife, that I lost a couple of years ago was very active in Kewaneean activities, with muscular dystrophy for 25 years,” Johnson said. “It was a ‘What would Katie do’, and this is what she’d do.”

Johnson says he’s raised over $1700 for the food pantry in less than a month.