Xmas Relief for Furloughed Bar Pals

Let me tell you about two of my friends. Morgan is on the management staff at a local Chicago bar, and Dustin is a successful event DJ. They have been out of work since March of this year.

Covid-19 has put millions of people out of work, especially in the service industry.  Morgan and Dustin Drase are, in some ways, a typical pair just trying to make ends meet during an extraordinary time just like countless others. 

However,  there is nothing typical about them. 

Instead of reaching out for themselves, they have donated their time, energy, and in some cases the limited resources they do have to help causes of extreme need throughout Chicago. They have done Twitch.tv stream benefits and have organized donations for other furloughed workers. They have also used their platform to highlight the LGBTQ Freedom Fund, Black Youth Project 100, Black Visions Collective, the West River Bail Fund, and many others at a time where donations are understandably at an all-time low. 

They've spent the past 8 months looking out for others, despite losing their own livelihoods and being pushed to the breaking point themselves. They will be spending Christmas by themselves, without gifts, without family, without Christmas dinner, and without anything that I personally (and many of us) have come to take for granted as a given every year. This just isn't right, and I think it's time that we step up for them. Here's how: 

- I will be asking us to raise $2,000 and 100% of it will be going to Dustin and Morgan Drase on Christmas Eve! 
- I will be matching the first thousand in donations. 
- The fundraiser will be open until the final amount is triggered or December 23 arrives. 
- This money will pay for their rent, groceries, bills (phone, heat, electricity) for the next several months, and maybe even allow them to do something a bit nice for themselves on Christmas 
- I'm going to trigger the first tier at $1,000 so that, at the very least, I can match that and give them $2k. I know times are hard, so the original goal may be too ambitious, but even two thousand will go a LONG way! 

These two have become two of my best friends. They have been there for me in ways they don't even know or realize, and at times where things were incredibly bleak and dark for me. I want them to feel the love and have some evidence that, even during the worst year in recent memory, people will jump forward to help when given the opportunity and that being good to others (as they have been time and time again) really is its own reward. 

I'm asking you to dig deep. I know it's hard, but if you are not in a financial crisis this Christmas and are lucky enough to be working (as I am), I really encourage you to give out of the goodness of your heart and in the spirit of the season's sentiment. It would mean the world to me and to them!