Social Media Challenge Changing Lives For Restaurant Staff In St. Louis

CBS St. Louis

January 20, 2021

In just a few weeks, donors from across the country have helped a local business give away about $5,000 to restaurant servers across the St. Louis area. Nicole Genz, the owner of RF Home Co. in Kirkwood, saw videos of the Venmo challenge on TikTok and wanted to try it herself.
She posted about it on RH Home Co's Facebook page. In just a few hours, her followers raised $800. "Most of them are from the local area, but we’ve gotten donations from all over the country, anywhere from $1 to $100," said Genz. After giving the money away to a server just before Christmas, she did the Venmo challenge again. This time, she raised several thousand. Since the beginning of January, her followers have helped her give two servers each more than $2,000. Genz said some of the donors are in the service industry themselves. "They are just excited, they love the idea. There are people who have lost their jobs, they just want to give a dollar. Part of it is wanting to do something good, but part of it is you’re being part of something, a community thing, you’re feeling good about what you’re doing," said Genz. Since December, her followers have helped her give away about $5,000 to servers across the St. Louis area. “Whether it’s $500 or $2000, I mean that could be a couple of months rent, that can be a life-changing amount of money," said Genz. Every time Genz does this, her business gives one of the donors $100 as a thank you for their kindness. "I don’t deserve any accolades. I’m giving other people’s money away so this has all been bout inspiring other people," said Genz. She said at least two of her followers have already started their own Venmo challenge. "It could just be a Venmo circle with your friends and family, and you’d be surprised how quickly 10, 20 people can put together a couple of hundred dollars," said Genz. Genz followers have already raised another $1,700. She plans to give that, plus anything else people donate, to an unsuspecting server this weekend.

If you'd like to donate, you can Venmo Genz: @ndawn