Southwest Virginia Virtual Tip Jar
Help Support Service Industry Workers
👉 Share the link! ⇨ swvatipjar.com
👉 Image for sharing on social media ⇨ Steal this!
👉 Go Straight to the Tip Jar and Send a Tip
👉 Or give to the SWVA VTJ Pool
⭐Looking for the Roanoke list? ⇨ http://bit.ly/Roanoke-Valley-Virtual-Tip-Jar
⭐Want to start a VTJ for your area? ⇨ Pittsburgh VTJ Template
⭐Not from Southwest Virginia? ⇨ Find a VTJ in Your Area
⭐Other ways to help. ⇨ More Resources at Looking Out For Each Other NRV
⭐ If you are a social media manager for a business on the list, please share the link with your email contacts and social media networks so that your customers can find people and send a tip. swvatipjar.com
⇨ UPDATE February 19, 2021. Click here to jump to today’s important update.
💸 Give someone a tip!
Many of us would regularly be patronizing bars, salons, restaurants, and other businesses that have closed or reduced service. Even if you are socially isolating, you can help to support our local service industry laborers. Consider sending a "tip" to your favorite barista, bartender, server, stylist, or gig worker who relies on tip income and has lost shifts or clients. Use the google sheet linked below to find their CashApp, Venmo or Paypal info.
Note that you can sort by each column heading or use "ctrl+f" to find the person you are looking for by name or place of employment. If you don't see your favorite service industry folks listed, encourage them to come and fill out the form (see below). Sending a tip will require you, the sender, to have at least one of the above listed pay apps.
Please circulate widely.
Share shortened URL: http://bit.ly/Give2-SWVA-Tip-Jar
Click Here to View Listings and Send a Tip
✍ Workers, get on the list here!
Many of our friends and neighbors depend on tips to make ends meet. This virtual tip jar is for local service industry staff - employees at bars, restaurants, salons, etc - to post their Venmo, CashApp or Paypal information (or all three!) so that customers, neighbors, and Southwest Virginia community members can continue to support them. Please ask your restaurant, coffee shop, housekeeping, and other service labor friends to sign up. When your situation improves or to be removed from the roster, please email Russell at coffeeslinger@gmail.com.
Step 1: Sign up and verify your cash apps.
Step 2: Fill out the form at the link below.
Step 3: Share the link with your co-workers or other service industry friends 👉 http://bit.ly/SWVA-Virtual-Tip-Jar
Step 4: Share the link with everyone 👉 http://bit.ly/SWVA-Virtual-Tip-Jar
Step 5: Ask your business social media manager to share the link.
Service Industry Workers Click Here to Get on the List
👋 Shout out to Pittsburgh Virtual Tip Jar organizers for sharing the template! Questions? Suggestions? coffeeslinger@gmail.com
Today’s Update
February 19, 2021
Not much has changed for too many people, including our friends on the SWVA Virtual Tip Jar roster. We have many moons to go to come out of this crisis and some of our restaurants and coffee shops and small businesses will not survive. Very few people have asked to be removed from the roster. So let’s keep this going, eh? To give to the pool, go here: https://bit.ly/SWVA-VTJ-Pool
I can send tips to roughly 15 people per day due to transaction limits and I will do that every day as long as there are pool funds to send. (Current balance: -$30.00.) Thank you to the donors who kept the pool going in 2020 so at the very least we can let workers know we haven’t forgotten them. If you are tipping directly from the spreadsheet remember you can use the “randomizer” at the top or see businesses sorted by name using the tabs at the bottom.
Workers: If your situation has improved or you just want your listing removed from the VTJ roster, please email Russell at coffeeslinger@gmail.com. Stay as long as you need, stay safe, and keep looking out for each other.
⭐Remember to check the Update Archive for other helpful information.⭐
Roanoke area friends, please give to the Roanoke VTJ Pool if you can.
Check out the Looking Out For Each Other Website for other ways to support each other.
On behalf of the community of service workers signing up for the SWVA Virtual Tip Jar, thank you for all of the generous contributions to the SWVA Tip Jar Pool, and for every tip you are sending individually! Over 5,500 people have visited the VTJ spreadsheet. We have collected $18,844.00 and distributed $18,874.00 in pooled tips.
Workers, please check your listing and verify that your pay apps are correct. There are a few listings with bad pay app links etc. highlighted in red. If yours needs updating or you know the worker highlighted, please contact me at coffeeslinger@gmail.com to fix the details. (Please don’t request edit access to the spreadsheet. As clumsy as it sounds, it’s easier and safer to just email me corrections. Thanks!)
Share this link! 👉 swvatipjar.com
Thank you for your generosity and support of workers!
Update Archive
⇨ UPDATE April 23, 2020 (Archived on April 24)
Roanoke area friends, please give to the Roanoke VTJ Pool if you can.
There’s a new resource for donors who are looking to put their stimulus checks to work locally. Organized by the Looking Out for Each Other New River Valley group, this page makes suggestions based on research into needs, service gaps, and effective providers. Bookmark this page: https://bit.ly/ShareMyCheckNRV
New River Community Action has rental, utility and household assistance information available at https://newrivercommunityaction.org/covid-19/.
On behalf of the community of service workers signing up for the SWVA Virtual Tip Jar, thank you for all of the generous contributions to the pool, and for every tip you are sending individually! As of April 24, over 4,700 people have visited the VTJ spreadsheet. We have collected $11,275.00 and distributed $8,764.00 in pooled tips.
We’re sending a welcome tip to workers as they sign up and equitably tipping the entire list as we go. This also helps verify that each worker’s pay app information is correct and functioning. Pay app and debit limits make this a slow process but we’ll keep at it until 100% of pooled tips are distributed. We’re currently working down the list again from the top. Sending directly to workers is still the best way to send tips!
If you are a worker on the list and need to add a new pay app (PayPal, CashApp or Venmo only), please email Russell at coffeeslinger@gmail.com. Please do not create a new entry on the form for this purpose.
Fellow service industry workers from outside Southwest Virginia: Please do not add yourself to the SWVA tip jar as that will make the roster unmanageable. Please DO find the tip jar in your area so your customers can find you! :)
By sharing the page, you are also making it possible for people across the region to find service workers they want to support directly. You can sort by each column heading on the spreadsheet or use "ctrl+f" to find the person you are looking for by name or place of employment.
There is also a random selection generator at the top of the roster which can be used to send a tip any time you want to pick someone new from the list. We have added a new tab that is sorted by business name. The randomizer on that tab will also show a different business each time you refresh in your browser. That way you can support everyone at a specific business by scrolling down that sheet and finding those workers.
Thanks very much to local journalists Lindsey Kennett from WSLS, Mike Gangloff from the Roanoke Times, and Parker King of WFXR for getting the word out about the SWVA and Roanoke VTJ effort. Support local media!
⭐If you are social media manager for a business on the list, please share the link below for the SWVA VTJ with your email contacts and social media networks so that your customers can find people and send a tip.
Share this link! 👉 http://bit.ly/SWVA-Virtual-Tip-Jar
Thank you for your generosity and support of workers!
⇨ UPDATE April 14, 2020 Coffee people, take the Sprudge Survey For Baristas Impacted By COVID-19.
It’s time we stop considering these jobs as a backup and start providing dignity to all workers.
Over 4,500 people have viewed the SWVA VTJ spreadsheet. The largest numbers have come from email and social media sharing, so please send the list out far and wide to your neighbors who might not have seen it. The numbers below only reflect the pool distribution as we have no way of tracking what you have been sending directly to workers.
I want to send a special thank-you to essential workers at our area stores, health care facilities and other frontline services for the work you do now and always. While the VTJ is here to support struggling workers who have lost jobs or had their hours and wages severely cut, we see you stocking shelves, treating people with kindness and answering the same questions patiently. Thank you. -Russell
⇨ UPDATE April 9, 2020. Farewell to John Prine. He wrote one of the greatest songs about heartbreak and hanging around past closing time. Hope you’ll reach out and tip somebody today for every server that ever laughed at your terrible jokes.
⇨ UPDATE March 25, 2020. Thanks to local journalists Lindsey Kennett from WSLS and Mike Gangloff from the Roanoke Times for getting the word out about the SWVA and Roanoke VTJ effort. Thanks to all who are signing up and sharing and tipping. Workers: please add all of your payment apps. This gives people more options to send you a tip.
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⇨ UPDATE March 23, 2020. Check out the new randomizer and send a tip to a different worker by refreshing the page! http://bit.ly/Give2-SWVA-Tip-Jar
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⇨ UPDATE March 22, 2020. Dear workers, if you have more than one option for receiving tips and need to add to your entry, please email me (Russell, coffeeslinger@gmail.com).
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⇨ UPDATE March 21, 2020. Dear workers, please double check your pay app information for accuracy. Email me with corrections or to delete your entry if your situation has improved (Russell, coffeeslinger@gmail.com). You can always add yourself back to the roster any time. Wash yer hands. Be sure to add the @ to your Venmo handle :)
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⇨ UPDATE March 20, 2020. We are pooling tips to make sure new arrivals to the list get something ($10) right away. This helps verify that pay apps are working and is a nice way to say hello. Please keep supporting workers directly. To contribute to the pool, please send to SWVA Virtual Tip Jar Pool and I will send an email reply that your funds were received and distributed. 100% of pooled tips are distributed. Thank you! -Russell
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⇨ UPDATE March 19, 2020. A friend has set up a new Virtual Tip Jar for the Roanoke Valley area! For details go to: http://bit.ly/Roanoke-Valley-Virtual-Tip-Jar
