Do your part! Join us as Bright Side community donates to those hit hardest by COVID-19 pandemic

While I sit here complaining about working from home, missing that constant human interaction, binging TV shows I’d have never watched because #sportsout (“Love is Blind” ?!?!), and stressing about how much toilet paper I have left, I have to remind myself how lucky I am.

I have a job that doesn’t depend on foot traffic to survive. At least I can pay my bills. I can work from home on full salary, and I have one of those jobs where I still get paid when I’m sick.

I am one of the lucky ones. Some of you are, too.

So let’s help each other. Right here, on this little blog. You and me. Just like we do once a year to send thousands of underprivileged kids to a basketball game — we raised $15,000 in donations for Bright Side Night this year!

Suns fans helping Suns fans! BSotS helping each other!

Here’s how

• Step 1: Open the nominations spreadsheet - NOMINATIONS. Anyone on this spreadsheet will be eligible to receive anywhere from $20-100, depending on how much total money we collect. I’m shooting for a $10,000 goal, which means we can help a TON of people in a small way.
• Step 2: Identify your preferred recipient(s). See who’s been nominated so far. If one looks good to you, mention that when you donate the money through our gofundme campaign. Or just simply donate money directly to them.
• Step 3: Or nominate a NEW recipient on this google form NEW NOMINATIONS FORM. Nominate yourself** or a person/business you know that has been hit in the wallet by the pandemic. We are focusing on those who suddenly don’t have a way to keep afloat if this pandemic doesn’t clear up real quick (and it won’t). Be sure to add the reason they deserve a donation, and ways to contact them or pay them including their pay handle (CashApp, Venmo, PayPal, etc.) **Yes, you should even nominate yourself, if your income has been hurt by this pandemic. We are here for you!**

—You can stop here if you don’t have any money to donate, but want to make sure that the list of nominations is updated! Or if you simply just need to add yourself.

• Step 4: Donate some money DONATE HERE. $5. $10. $100+. Be sure to mention who you want to receive your donation, if you have a preference, and I will do my best to make that happen. Whatever you can afford. Note that the gofundme site retains about 3% from every donation. There are no charges to the recipients.

Let’s help each other out.

Suns fans nominating Suns fans. Helping the community. Helping those in need.

Donate here

Where does the money go?

I want this money to go to those who need it. Every dollar will go to someone who has lost income due to the pandemic.

And only to people and local businesses nominated by us. You and me. We donate the money, we decide who gets it.

Let’s focus on:

• Individuals who lost some or all of their wages because their employer let them go, or reduced them to a “zero hour” schedule
• Small business owners in Arizona (sole proprietors, not national chains) who had to shut down their dining rooms, effectively killing 80-90% of their business without warning

Because of this pandemic, estimates show that 1 in 5 of us have already lost or are in danger of losing their job. More than 20% of those around you (I know I know #socialdistancing but go with me here) have no idea what to do next.

Donate here

Here are some of the folks that inspired me do this fundraiser.

Arena and concert hall workers

The arena workers at Suns games were the first that come to mind for me. Sure, the Suns organization is paying them some money (two-hours worth of wages for each already-scheduled shift that usually last 5 hours) but that’s still a 60% loss of income!!

Those same people worked DBacks games (cancelled), concerts (cancelled), and any other events at the TSRA or Chase Field.

They are some of the nicest people, and it breaks my heart to see them scramble for some other way to make a living in the face of a hospitality industry that’s fallen off the face of the earth.

Restaurant owners

Imagine you put your life savings into a business to get it off the ground, you’re finally making enough money to survive, to pay the bills. You’ve hired a staff to help you realize your life’s dream and it’s WORKING.

Until all of a sudden, it’s not. Doors are shuttered. You’ve got all this inventory, and more orders on the way. Invoices due. Rent due. Utilities due.

Anyone else who needs it, because of the pandemic

1. Open the nominations list here: NOMINATIONS
2. Review the list and pick a favorite or three
3. Make a new nomination here: NEW NOMINATIONS FORM
4. Donate!

Donate here

Every dollar counts. You don’t need it as much as someone else does.