Finally — a chance to turn your drinking habits into a noble cause!
This weekend, the Barman’s Fund is back in action, taking thousands of dollars in tip money at area taverns and setting the cash aside for community groups that need it most.
“People feel good about themselves when they come out — and they tend to tip a little extra,” said the group’s founder, Brian Floyd, who works at The Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights. “We bring in a lot more on our charity nights than we make on other nights.”
Since April, the do-gooders have raised more than $6,000, money that bought a grill for the Park Slope Women’s Shelter, playground toys for a Bedford-Stuyvesant class, and food for a Greenpoint soup kitchen.
This time around, the fund is hoping to raise money for a year’s worth of antibiotics for a free clinic.
The project started after Floyd and his friends announced that they’d each put one night’s gratuities toward Japan tsunami relief. It turned out tipplers loved drinking from the heart, so the barmen kept up the cause — acting as sober Santas and checking off wish lists for community groups.
“You’re sometimes surprised by what they want,” Floyd said. “It’s always simple quality of life requests.”
Barman’s Fund drive at the Vanderbilt [570 Vanderbilt Ave. between Dean and Bergen streets in Prospect Heights, (718) 623-0570], Aug. 5; and Freddy’s [627 Fifth Ave. between 17th and 18th streets in Park Slope, (718) 768-0131]; South [629 Fifth Ave. between 17th and 18th streets in Park Slope, (718) 832-4720], Aug. 7. For info, visit facebook.com/thebarmansfund.
