One of the brightest stories of the 2020 holiday season just came to light! When one former restaurant manager heard about the coronavirus shutdowns, she went out of her way to make things right for her former employees…
One Former Manager, Doing Her Part
As a former restaurant manager and bartender, Brittany Scharr understood better than most how hard COVID-19 would hit businesses. So, when Pennsylvania went into another lockdown, she decided to help out some local restaurant workers. How? Well, nothing less than simply giving $100 in cash to servers. What an incredible gift!
“It was really heavy on my heart knowing they were struggling from the original shutdown,” Scharr said. The last strict lockdown went into effect on December 12 and lasted until January 4. When it hit, Scharr, who now runs a life-coaching company, didn’t want to sit around and wait. “I just kind of decided … I don’t really just want to talk about it. I really want to do something about it,” she said. “And that’s when I launched the fundraiser.”
Eventually, Scharr landed on gifting “twelve restaurant service members with $100 each of the 12 days of Christmas.” However, after launching her fundraiser on Facebook, the former manager recieved a lot more than $1,200 in donations. Eventually, her “Christmas Restaurant Staff Support Fund” raised over $20,000 thanks to a rapid-fire spread on social media and local news. In fact, Scharr said she raised so much money that she needed to keep gift servers cash well through Christmas. What a fantastic problem to have! Now, Scharr’s continuing to spread holiday cheer well into 2021 with video of the servers receiving their well-deserved gifts.
The Servers Could Not Believe It
Jane Scott is one of the workers to who Scharr gifted cash. A server at Court Diner in Media, Pennsylvania, Scorr said that the $100 gift made it possible for her to buy Christmas presents this year. Knowing that Scott loves cats, and often feeds strays when she finds them, Scharr also gifted her some cat food. The former manager said it ensured that Scott spent the cash on herself and not cats!
Scharr knows that $100 can make all the difference in the world to people like Scott. With indoor dining banned, servers had no way to earn tips. As such, the checks come at a desperately needed time. “That’s all we have right now,” Scott said.
“$100 cash can’t pay someone’s rent but it can make someone feel valued [and] that they are important,” Scharr stated. Meanwhile, the former manager she has plans to have the donations to continue. She wants to continue gifting worker money until the lockdown rules are fully lifted.
Sources: DailyLocal, MSN