TEXARKANA, Texas - Heading out for dinner or grabbing a drink are ways Texarkana loves to socialize, but in the age of COVID-19 that's changed.
With local restaurants and drinking establishments opting for to-go options instead of dine-in service because of the coronavirus pandemic, one local business aims to help local servers and bartenders remain "Texarkana Strong" while many are out of work.
That phrase adorns T-shirts for sale via local printing business Sports Magic for $10 or $15 (for 2X-5X sizes). With each T-shirt purchase, money raised is placed into a fund and the buyer can nominate a favorite server or bartender to receive funds from a live drawing held April 28.
A promotional flyer explains the purpose this way: "COVID-19 has brought havoc to many lives in the form of illness, as well as financial instability for many people. Those in immediate danger of not being able to support their families are the many men and women of the restaurant/service industry."
Organizer Lindsey Pilgreen at Sports Magic said the inspiration takes a cue from all the occasions when local people have stepped up to help out when people are in need.
"The people in the community just seem to, no matter what the situation is, bring on an outpouring of support in many ways," Pilgreen said. "Financially, donating clothing, donating canned goods or food or whatnot."
Being in the T-shirt business, Sports Magic thought making them would be a way they could make it fun for people to nominate folks in the restaurant service industry.
"For every shirt you buy, you're able to nominate someone that is out of work currently in the restaurant service industry business to put into a drawing, which we will draw for $100 each person depending on how many shirts we sell," Pilgreen said.
There's no limit to how many times a name can be entered. "It not only covers the community in Texarkana Strong T-shirts, it allows kind of a visual positive," Pilgreen said. The message is that the community can overcome this pandemic.
"It also puts money in the pot for people who are running single families, and students, and households that don't have other means of income. It's just kind of a win-win. It shows how strong and supportive the community is and reminds everybody of that on a daily basis."
Sports Magic will hold the drawing live on their Facebook page.
For Pilgreen, the concern for local servers is personal. Having a family with teenagers, they've developed personal connections to several servers in town, and her parents also own Redbone Magic Brewing Co.
"I guess I've kind of gotten a first-hand look of the faces this is affecting," she said.
Available T-shirt sizes range from medium to extra large for youth, small to 5X for adults. Payments can be made to Lindsey Pilgreen via Venmo (@lindsey-pilgreen), Paypal (paypal.me/lindseypilgreen) or CashApp ($lindseypilgreen). People can also pay cash in person.
T-shirts can be picked up at Redbone Magic Brewing in Texarkana. For more information and to arrange a T-shirt pickup, call Sports Magic at 903-832-1975. They'll be announcing a T-shirt pickup date, so be on the lookout for that soon.