Donors stepped up
MORE THAN TWELVE thousand dollars.
That’s how much has been raised for Marquette’s restaurant, tavern, and coffee shop workers in the last four days on a GoFundMe site.
But now, this is where the story gets interesting…and frankly, discouraging.
The money was raised so quickly that GoFundMe has told the site administrator that the site is “under review.” Meaning, we presume, they just want to check to make sure everything’s on the up-and-up.
It is. But in the meantime, the money is being held up by GoFundMe until no later than March 27th, next Friday.
Anne White, who’s converting the theater downtown to a distillery, started the site with her aide, Sawyer Fuller. “I think we’re a victim here of Marquette’s generosity,” White says. “They might be wondering how we did this.” She and Fuller have been trying to contact GoFundMe to free up the funds but have simply been told the benefits won’t be distributed today (Friday) as had been planned.
As we say, discouraging. But maybe understandable since there are scams out there.
Two hundred servers signed up for the benefits–it was decided to cut it off at that point to make certain everybody got a decent-sized amount. Which will be, apparently, $60. (Note: GoFundMe takes out a fee of approximately $400)
“We’re going to get this distributed as quickly as is humanly possible,” White says, noting that GoFundMe and Venmo, a mobile payment service, will be involved in the distribution.
The servers have all been notified of the delay. Maybe the word gets out, GoFundMe feels the pressure….and the money comes sooner than later. The servers, after all, need it now.
More help for the unemployed
TRAVEL MARQUETTE IS also helping out workers in the hospitality and tourism business. They’re collecting food supplies and gift cards at their office downtown.
“Give us a call and let us know what you need, ” says Susan Estler, Travel Marquette’s executive director, “and we’ll see if we can help you.”
Their phone number? 906-228-7749.
You can also drop by their office downtown (maintaining social distancing of course) Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
TV journalists make adjustments
SPEAKING OF SOCIAL distancing…
What’s the story at WLUC? How are they managing to work–when they’re busier than ever–while still trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19?
“Well right now, I’m the only person in the newsroom,” co-anchor Sarah Blakely said when we called her mid morning Friday. “All non air people are working out of their homes on their laptops, and some reporters, too. And those of us here in the newsroom, we’ve all moved so that we’re far apart. And you might have noticed, Jen (Jennifer Perez, the morning meteorologist) and I, we don’t get close to each other on the Morning News.”
Something else we’ve noticed. No two anchor shows anymore. Just single anchors until the crisis passes.
Something else: TV6 has been doing a heckuva job covering the crisis this week.