Virginia Beach waitress surprised with $650 tip through viral 'Venmo challenge'
Ohio couple used crowdfunding to surprise diner server with generous gratuity
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An Ohio man vacationing in Virginia Beach, Virginia, surprised his waitress with a $650 tip raised by strangers through mobile payment app Venmo to show people there are "still positive and good stories out there," he told FOX Business.
"I had family and friends all across the country donate, and it was pretty fantastic," said Dan Pew of Niles, Ohio. "It wasn’t about me, it wasn’t about the money, it was more about the gesture that strangers can still do incredibly nice things for each other and not expect anything out of it."
On Friday, Pew and his fiancee Raven Trickett dined at Commune, a farm-to-table restaurant in Virginia Beach, where they got to know server Aubrey Suykerbuyk. They spent days leading up to the visit asking their social media followers to donate to the Venmo challenge.
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"We really liked Aubrey, and she was a great waitress," Pew said. "It just kind of felt right in the moment. ... She had a positive attitude, but you can tell when people can use a bit of a pick-me-up."
Suykerbuyk, a rising sophomore at Liberty University, wants to extend a "huge thank you" to everyone who donated to Pew's Venmo challenge, she told FOX Business. She and her coworkers share tips.
"I was out of work for about two months. ... It was super hard on the restaurant," Suykerbuyk said.
She moved from Norfolk, where she worked at Commune's second location that's now temporarily closed, to Virginia Beach so she could work.
Dan Pew and Raven Trickett surprised their server with a $650 tip. (Dan Pew)
She never thought she would be surprised with such a generous tip, Suykerbuyk said.
"I had kind of an idea what was happening but wasn’t quite wrapping my brain around it," Suykerbuyk said. "I’ve seen it happen to other people, like on TikTok and stuff, but I never would have thought it would happen to me."
Pew is the community outreach director at Parkman Recovery Center, which helps people recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.
Pew is five years clean and said the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly made life harder for anyone struggling with addiction, especially those in the early stages of recovery.
"We’ve done more outreach during this time, just because we know people think detox and treatment centers are closed. Recovery doesn’t stop," he said.
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He's already thinking about future Venmo challenges.
"I'm consistently doing everything I can to help others. It's my mission in life," Pew said.