A dollar here and a dime there may not seem like a lot in a tip jar, but at the Duck Stop coffee bar, tips add up to thousands of dollars — and a greater cause.
Instead of pocketing their tips from customers each day, employees at the University Bookstore bistro collect the money throughout the year and donate it to different non-profit organizations. This fall, employees began collecting tips that will be contributed to the HIV Alliance, which provides HIV education and services to the community.
Bookstore General Manager Jim Williams said tips have been collected for about nine years, and all together the coffee bar has donated about $40,000.
“We at the bookstore never felt it was quite right to take tips,” he said, adding that Duck Stop employees are paid a bit more than those at other coffee shops, and they also get benefits such as vacation time and discounts.
Each year, a $3,000 goal is set, but Duck Stop employee Erin Tuttle said last year’s tips, which were donated to the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, added up to more than $5,000.
“Three thousand dollars is always our goal — we usually go over,” she said.
Employee and senior Brett Hanson said when he started working at the Duck Stop about a month and a half ago he wasn’t sure how he felt about giving up his tips. But he soon realized he liked the idea of donating to a good cause.
“If I was working at any other job and making the same amount, I wouldn’t be getting tips,” he said. “It feels better, (so) why not.”
However, Hanson said he’s noticed that some people decide not to give money when they find out tips aren’t going to the employees.
“It frustrates me to see people that know we’re giving up our tips, but they’re not willing to either give a tip or give the same amount of a tip because we’re not getting it,” he said. “It gets them off the hook of giving.”
He added that it makes him even more willing to donate the money.
“That kind of thing makes me appreciate it more,” he said.
Senior and self-described tipper Katera Hopkins said she has worked at a coffee shop where tips were a part of the pay, so she respects that Duck Stop employees donate the extra money.
“I guess I would give them tips anyway, but I appreciate it more because they’re giving it up to a good cause,” she said. “I think it’s really a good way for them to reach out.”
HIV Alliance Development Director Carisa Tremayne said that with recent government funding cuts the organization has been struggling to meet its yearly budget of $800,000, which is necessary for operating all of its services.
“It’s a nice fund-raising opportunity for us,” she said. “We’re in need of all the community support we can get.”
Tremayne said that about half of the budget comes from grants from private organizations and community support. Grants have become increasingly competitive, she added, because other non-profits are facing the same government cuts as the HIV Alliance. She said that last year employees opted to take a cut in hours instead of cutting any services when the organization was under-budgeted.
“We’re trying to come up with creative and new ways to raise money,” she said, adding that the Duck Stop donations are just the kind of help the alliance is looking for.
Tips from the Duck Stop will help pay for services such as first-aid supplies and clean syringes for the Sana Needle Exchange program, which aims to prevent the spread of the disease among intravenous drug users. Other services include financial assistance for families with HIV-positive members.
Tremayne added that the fund-raiser is also a way to remind people, especially students, of the importance of the cause. She said that every 14 seconds, a youth aged 15 to 24 contracts HIV.
“People have become complacent about the disease,” she said. “It’s a huge opportunity to increase awareness.”