How You Can Support the Service Industry During COVID-19

Folks, we hope all of you are staying safe and making it through this difficult time. Just by opening this post, you’ve shown an interest in supporting your neighbors in the arts and service industries, so we want to thank you — your love for this community is what makes the Triangle great.

Our nonprofit, Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc., manages our historic venue for the benefit of the community. Since the current situation prevents us from opening our doors and encouraging the region to gather in celebration of the arts, we thought we’d provide some ways you can support our arts and service communities.

Before you give or make a purchase, we encourage you to ensure that your help will reach those in need. Generally, rely on your common sense:

• Do your research. Ensure that any crowdfunding source is legitimate, and that an online shop will give the artist or organization either all or a cut of the proceeds. If you’re supporting through a crowdfunding site, you can check the artist’s or organization’s website and social media to confirm that they are directly involved in the campaign. You can also reach out directly to the artist or organization.

• If you feel pressured or rushed to donate — of course, beyond your own understanding of the impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — that’s a red flag.

For further advice, The New York Times compiled a great article on giving safely to arts workers.

In addition to the impact on arts in our community, we are aware that critical social distancing policies like ours decrease traffic to businesses in downtown Durham. In a standard year, our events make a significant economic impact by attracting more than 200,000 guests to downtown Durham each year. These guests shop, dine, drink and stay overnight, and sales tax on both those purchases and their tickets bolsters the local economy.

Beyond our economic ties to local business, these folks are our friends and neighbors. As we pull together to support the arts in Durham, let’s not forget the restaurants, shops, hotels and other storefronts that keep our community vivid.

Direct Purchases:

• Purchase gift cards online for use once organizations have recovered and resumed regular services. Some local organizations, like Cocoa Cinnamon, also provide opportunities to donate towards their employees’ wages online.
• Order for pick-up or delivery. When you order, Discover Durham advises that, “As long as patrons feel comfortable with it and are safe, pickup is a much better option for restaurants than delivery, even if both are offered. Unless delivery service is done in house, delivery services charge a large percentage of sales to each restaurant.”
  • Bites of Bull City has a great list of restaurants that are providing take-out and delivery options, as does Discover Durham.
  • Check your favorite restaurants’ social media accounts and email newsletters for live updates.
• When you order, tip well.
• Consider joining the #JustKeepTipping movement of tipping your favorite bartender via Venmo every time you have a drink at home.
  • You can also apply this concept to your hairdresser, barber, babysitter, et cetera.

Donations:

• Donate to the North Carolina Restaurant Workers Relief Fund: https://www.ncrestaurantrelief.com 
• SIWANC, the Triangle’s service worker GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/creating-social-distance-the-triangle-nc
• Play weekly trivia at QuizFromHome.com every Wednesday night (we sponsor it at Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub during non-COVID time). Part of the proceeds go to laid-off service industry workers in Durham.
• Arcana’s Patreon: www.patreon.com/arcanadurham
• Fullsteam’s GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/wall-of-awesome
• The Floor’s GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/foundations-service-worker-income-support

We’d also like to shout out the folks who gave us a helping hand in our own time of need: Alley Twenty Six, American Meltdown, Bull McCabe’s, Chirba Chirba, Cocoa Cinnamon, The Durham Hotel, East Durham Bake Shop, Hutchins Garage, Loaf, Ninth Street Bakery, The Parlour, Pie Pushers, Rue Cler, The Durham, The Federal, The Viceroy and Toast.

Durham, we’re proud to be part of a community that is committed to supporting each other. If you know of resources that aren’t included above, please share them with us on Facebook.

To learn more about our response to the novel coronavirus, read our full release here.

Read our resource list for supporting local arts here.