Déjà vu Donates Water, Care Packages to Mich. Flood Victims

MIDLAND COUNTY, Mich.—When AVN chronicled gentlemen's club chain Déjà vu's program late last year of providing tents for Las Vegas' homeless so they wouldn't freeze to death on the city's streets—an effort that dwarfed what the city itself was doing—we had no idea the extent to which the company was putting so much time, effort and money into helping the needy in other communities where its clubs are located. The most recent example surfaced over the weekend, when two news sources in northern Michigan, where a pair of dams in Edenville and Sanford failed, creating massive flooding in the county and forcing mass evacuations of local residents. In response, Déjà vu, which got its start in Michigan and currently has six locations across the state, "drop[ped] off pallets of bottled water, along with care packages for children that include stuffed animals, canned goods, toothbrushes, toothpastes, cleaning supplies, and bleach to a United Way donation center in downtown Sanford" over the weekend, reported mlive.com. "We want to give back to the community in times of tragedy," said Déjà vu Regional Manager Bo Wilhelm. "We have families, we have hearts and we care about families." After a bit of Web searching, it turns out that Déjà vu has plenty to crow about—if it wanted to, which it apparently doesn't. For example, just over one year ago, the Déjà vu Showgirls location in Nashville, Tennessee donated 10,000 bottles of premium alkaline bottled water to the Nashville Rescue Mission charity, and Fox-17 TV also reported that in April, 2019, "a passerby captured video of a group of Déjà Vu Strip Club employees giving a homeless woman some much needed supplies this Easter." "We wanted to make sure somebody feel loved today, on Easter," Déjà vu manager OJ Childress told reporters for the station. Earlier this year, the middle of Tennessee was hit by a series of tornadoes, and once again, Déjà vu came through to help those affected by donating another 10,000 bottles of premium alkaline water, targeting families in need first, and then providing even more to construction workers working to clean up the damage. "Anybody in need of clean drinking water is encouraged to contact the club," said Mike Durham, regional director for Deja Vu Showgirls. Most of the news this year, of course, has been dominated by the coronavirus outbreak, but even before the state of Florida had issued any stay-at-home orders, the Tampa branch of Déjà vu was already being proactive by offering each patron who attended the club during March a face mask, with an expected total of 10,000 face masks to be given away. (Not to be outdone, the Las Vegas branch was planning to give patrons 50,000 bottles of hand sanitizer.) Despite the fact that Florida health officials were then claiming that face masks were ineffective in preventing someone from contracting a virus, Déjà vu took a more cautious attitude. "It might seem silly," said Déjà vu general manager Mark Figueroa, "but we take the health of our guests very seriously." And finally, on March 29, Little Darlings of Las Vegas, which is owned by the Déjà vu organization, announced that the club would offer more than $100,000 worth of bottled water to families hard hit by the city's casino shutdown as well as other families in need. "In times of crisis, people expect government to step in. While we commend the efforts of some local governments, government most often falls short," explained the club's Director of Operations, Ryan Carlson, noting that the giveaway was "small price to pay" for the years of support that Déjà vu clubs and entertainers have received over the years.