When TikTok star Meredith Steele of Bath, Maine, heard about an openly gay waiter twice stiffed by customers leaving Christian pamphlets as their “tips,” Steele took the case to her more than 478,000 followers — who pulled together enough funds to give that waiter a generous tip … and gift the remaining $10,500 to EqualityMaine.
“This is not how people — Christians especially — treat one another,” Steele posted to her followers, reports The Times Record via the Portland Press Herald website.
“Regardless of your personal opinion, someone’s sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with how they do their job,” said Steele. “It’s never your time or place to make a comment like that. It infuriated me.”
Reports The Times Record:
Steele asked her over 478,000 followers on TikTok, a social media platform where users to share short videos, to donate to give the waiter the tip they deserved. Donations poured into her Venmo account, an online payment app, faster than she anticipated, leading her to close the fundraiser just days after it launched.
“Some people sent 17 cents and said, ‘This is all I have in my Venmo account,’ and others sent $100,” said Steele. “The amount of money that came in was absolutely insane.”
She split the donations, giving a portion to the waiter and the remaining $10,500 to EqualityMaine, a Portland-based nonprofit that advocates for equality for Maine’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, in the waiter’s name. She declined to say how much the waiter received.
EqualityMaine Development Director Christopher O’Connor said the donation will be used to fund a scholarship, allowing 10 young adults to attend the organization’s New Leaders Camp, a weeklong overnight camp for LGBTQ 12–17-year-olds. This summer, the camp is looking to raise $50,000 to send 40 teenagers to camp, free of charge. …
“Kids in every corner of the state exist in their communities and schools as the only LGBT person they know,” said O’Connor. “Camp gives them the chance to meet kids just like them and know they’re valued, respected and loved. They get to feel comfortable in their own skin and explore maybe a new name or pronouns they’ve been thinking about but may be too scared to share it at home.”
Read the whole Times Record story here.
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