CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Two downtown hot spots are serving drinks virtually in hopes of not only helping their staff, but giving back to the community by using their tips to feed healthcare workers.
It's a great plan, taking donations, buying food from local restaurants, and giving those meals to the men and women on the front lines of this pandemic.
To help businesses survive right now, Visit Corpus Christi has launched a virtual happy hour where bartenders stir, shake and pour cocktails over Facebook live. Since they can't serve customers in person, they ask for donations as tips to help their staff pay bills or buy food for themselves.
When it was Casey Ortiz's turn to be behind the bar, she wanted to help more than her employees. Ortiz is the manager at Cassidy's Irish Pub. She contacted friends at the House of Rock to see if they would be willing to meet halfway. Casey gave $450 with help from the tips she received from happy hour. The House of Rock matched her $450, making and delivering 30 to 40 pizzas to nurses at Christus Spohn Shoreline.
"You know they're still going out there every day and I've seen videos and Facebook posts of people who've had to send their kids to stay somewhere else because they are caring for these COVID people that are sick and they can't go home and risk giving it to their kids and things like that," Ortiz said. "So you know it's a small thing but I hope it meant a lot to those people anyway."
In about a week and a half people have donated just over $1,500 all through virtual happy hour. Keep the drinks coming.
To participate in Virtual Happy Hour and tip bartenders visit their page here.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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