Big Fat Tip #55 is the final tip in a series of five drops that we handed out on December 20, 2023. The Big Fat Tip® celebrated its fifth anniversary of being an official organization on that day, and we commemorated the event by giving out a surprise $1,000 tip for each year. We gave these to randomly selected businesses in Lakeland, Florida, close to our headquarters address, which is in the downtown Catapult Lakeland business incubator. Eric Vaden, a longtime supporter of our organization, paid for all five tips. Eric owns a GEICO agency in Boston, Massachusetts. He is quite the entrepreneur and recently bought the license to ten pet grooming businesses called Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique. Tragically, one of his new team members, Eden Beck, died in a car accident on December 10, 2023. Eric wanted to honor Eden's life through these random acts of kindness. While grateful for his support and generous gift, our hearts go out to Eden's family and friends. A tribute to her is at the end of the five videos. Our featured volunteers of the day are Miguel Vidal, Eddie Lopez, and Danny Williams. We became friends working at GEICO, and since three of us work at different companies now, BFT #55 was a great excuse to get together in person and catch up. One of the unseen benefits of these surprise tips is the interesting conversations and human connections happening before the drop. We were talking about all kinds of subjects! For instance, did you know that American kids' number one career choice is to be a social media influencer, whereas Chinese kids aspire to be astronauts and teachers? We need to fix that! (But how?) We compared our social feeds and discussed how the algorithm changes our perception of the real world. That also needs to be fixed to help our society. (But how?) Sports, music, and a lot of laughs followed these topics. Unplug, get out there, and have an actual in-person conversation today!

Big Fat Tip #54 is the fourth in a series of five drops that we handed out on December 20, 2023. The Big Fat Tip® celebrated its fifth anniversary of being an official organization on that day, and we commemorated the event by giving out a surprise $1,000 tip for each year. We gave these to randomly selected businesses in Lakeland, Florida, close to our headquarters address, which is in the downtown Catapult business incubator. Eric Vaden, a longtime supporter of our organization, paid for all five tips. Eric owns a GEICO agency in Boston, Massachusetts. He is quite the entrepreneur and recently bought the license to ten pet grooming businesses called Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique. Tragically, one of his new team members, Eden Beck, died in a car accident on December 10, 2023. Eric wanted to honor Eden's life through these random acts of kindness. While grateful for his support and generous gift, our hearts go out to Eden's family and friends. A tribute to her is at the end of the five videos. Shayna Collazo is our featured volunteer for this drop. Shayna used to work with our founder at GEICO in the Training Department. Shayna is a nurturer and cares deeply about her family, friends, and colleagues. She is also an adventurer and creative problem solver. We aim to keep our tabs low, and our five-year average bill at these establishments is $14.17. Our founder wanted to expand beyond restaurants and bars and give one of these tips in a nail salon; however, she wished to avoid splurging on an expensive nail service. So, Shayna volunteered to get her eyebrows waxed. Here is the kicker - Shayna and our founder could not be directly connected to the recipient - and this meant Shayna volunteered to allow a stranger to pull hair out of her face just before Christmas. Shayna met our camerawoman in the parking lot after drop #53 finished, and they looked up nail salons using the Around Me app. They caravaned to the first address they randomly selected, which appeared to be an incorrect location. They went to the second place they chosen randomly, but that salon didn't exist, either! They drove to the third location - and you can watch the video. People often think "reality TV" is real. It's not. They have microphones, make-up, planned wardrobes, plots, and scenes to follow. We do not, and it shows in our authentic videos. We often have to improvise, and one of the biggest unknowns is the point of payment. Everyone does it differently. Sometimes, they hand us a gadget. Sometimes we have to pay in a different location. Sometimes, the server prints it and sees the receipt before we can say anything. In this nail salon, the owner asks you to tell them what the tip is verbally, and they enter it on the computer and THEN print the receipt for you to sign. Our standard opening line, "Will you check the math on this for me?" didn't work in this situation, and our volunteer, who just had warm wax placed between her eyebrows and the hair yanked out of her face, quickly changed her lines. She did a great job thinking on her feet—Big Fat Thanks to Shayna for volunteering her pretty face for the cause, too. She could have had wonky eyebrows for the holidays!

Big Fat Tip #53 is the third drop in a series of five that we handed out on December 20, 2023. The Big Fat Tip® celebrated its fifth anniversary of being an official organization on that day, and we commemorated the event by giving out a surprise $1,000 tip for each year. We gave these to randomly selected businesses in Lakeland, Florida, close to our headquarters address, which is in the downtown Catapult Lakeland business incubator. Eric Vaden, a longtime supporter of our organization, paid for all five tips. Eric owns a GEICO agency in Boston, Massachusetts. He is quite the entrepreneur and recently bought the license to ten pet grooming businesses called Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique. Tragically, one of his new team members, Eden Beck, died in a car accident on December 10, 2023. Eric wanted to honor Eden's life through these random acts of kindness. While grateful for his support and generous gift, our hearts go out to Eden's family and friends. A tribute to her is at the end of the five videos. We recently started highlighting stories about the volunteers, where appropriate. Our featured volunteer for this drop is Brad Lunz. Brad met our founder while serving on the board of the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra. Brad owns a prominent architecture business in Lakeland, which has designed many noteworthy projects in the city. In addition to his architecture business, Brad entered into the content creation business by founding The Apiary, an animation and design firm. He recently inked an exciting deal, which means you may be watching his creations on a screen near you soon.

Big Fat Tip #52 is the second drop in a series of five that we handed out on December 20, 2023. The Big Fat Tip® celebrated its fifth anniversary of being an official organization on that day, and we commemorated the event by giving out a surprise $1,000 tip for each year. We gave these to randomly selected businesses in Lakeland, Florida, close to our headquarters address, which is in the downtown Catapult business incubator. Eric Vaden, a longtime supporter of our organization, paid for all five tips. Eric owns a GEICO agency in Boston, Massachusetts. He is quite the entrepreneur and recently bought the license to ten pet grooming businesses called Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique - Needham. Tragically, one of his new team members, Eden Beck, died in a car accident on December 10, 2023. Eric wanted to honor Eden's life through these random acts of kindness. While grateful for his support and generous gift, our hearts go out to Eden's family and friends. A tribute to her is at the end of the five videos. Many people don't realize that the volunteers who help hand out these tips have an interesting or touching story, too. We used to verbally share these stories with donors, recipients, and fans. Recently, we began including some of the back stories about the volunteers in our social posts and discovered the viewers appreciated learning more about them. So, we will continue having those where appropriate. Sometimes, the volunteers are going through deep depression: they lost a loved one or their job or are struggling with serious health issues. Sometimes, they have family living in war-torn parts of the world and desperately need to experience something positive. Those stories are intensely private and are not included for public consumption. Still, for you, the viewer, please understand that these tips are about spreading positive energy for the giver of the tip just as much as the ones receiving them. April, our volunteer for this tip, has supported our organization and asked if she could assist with a drop. Why? Because the news is filled with negative stories, and our social media feeds are filled with nonsense and negativity. She wanted to experience something good, pure, and positive. We were happy to accommodate her.

On December 20, 2023, The Big Fat Tip® celebrated its fifth anniversary of being an official organization! We handed out five surprise $1,000 tips that day in Lakeland, Florida, to strangers working in randomly selected businesses. All five tips were paid for by Eric Vaden, a longtime supporter of our organization. Eric owns a GEICO agency in Boston, Massachusetts. He recently bought the license to ten pet grooming businesses called Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique - Needham. Tragically, one of his new team members, Eden Beck, died in a car accident on December 10, 2023. Eric wanted to honor Eden's life through these random acts of kindness. We are so grateful for his support, and our hearts go out to Eden's family and friends. Our featured volunteer for #51, Troy C. Smith, recently embarked on a new venture, sharing his wisdom through motivational speaking. Troy dedicates his free time to the United Way of Central Florida and is organizing a community talent show in March to raise funds for this noble cause. So, if you live in Central Florida and have a hidden talent or a knack for entertaining, reach out to Troy. He's always looking for singers, dancers, jokesters, yodelers, or even fire-breathing dragon-juggling unicyclists on a tightrope! These drops are about more than handing out surprise $1,000 tips. It's a testament to the power of human connection, the significance of cherishing our relationships, and the ripple effect of kindness and compassion. You can see that in merely minutes in these videos.

We surprised Kyle on Memorial Day Weekend, which happens to align with our founder's birthday. She collected donations on Facebook from her friends to make this tip happen. Kyle turned around and gave away half of this tip to his coworkers who were not even there that day!

We recently celebrated our fourth anniversary and were thrilled to pass the $40,000 fundraising mark! This was our 40th drop, and we decided to spread the love by supporting a nonprofit that supports our veterans. We recently learned that civilians are welcome at most VFW posts across the United States. And this VFW is the new location of the Silver Ring Cafe, which had to vacate its home after 35 years when its lease was not renewed.

This was the fourth drop we did on December 20, 2022, to celebrate our 4th anniversary as an official organization. This bartender was so thrilled she donated some of her tip back to us so we could surprise the next person! Big Fat Thanks to George McCorkell for covering the entire cost of this tip and to our volunteer of the day, Kelly Aiken!

This was the third drop out of four we did to celebrate our 4th anniversary of being an official organization. We love their reactions!  Big Fat Thanks to our donors highlighted at the end of this video. They made this tip happen. And special thanks to our volunteer of the day, Beth Harvey! #bigfattip #RandomActsofKindness

Our camera-shy recipient asked us to record a second take with one of her colleagues. We preserved both recordings for your viewing pleasure. When recording real people (not actors), we get real responses. And those reactions are not always "TV worthy." Most emotions are felt, not seen. That is why game show producers usually pick overly-enthusiastic audience members and why acting is a job. We know that all recipients have been extremely grateful, and the most reserved ones have mentioned that they still think about the surprise tip they received years later. Big Fat Thanks to our donors, noted at the end of this video. This tip would not have happened without you. Special thanks to Robert Berganza for being our volunteer of the day.