Dan Price is the CEO of a company called, Gravity Payments. Back in 2015, he made headlines for cutting his million dollar salary to $70,000 so all of his employees could make a minimum of $70,000. This week, in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, Dan is cutting his salary yet again, but this time, he’s cutting it to $0. Dan said, “5 years ago I cut my CEO pay so I could pay all of our employees at least $70k. Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees. It's not much, but it's what I can do. We'll get through this together.” Here's the story about Tim Boyle of Columbia Sportswear and Dan Price of Gravity Payments cutting their CEO salaries.  

Peter Darmos lives in Australia. Last week, he heard about the hundreds of people lining up outside the unemployment office, so he headed down there himself with an idea. He began handing out $100 bills to every person he saw. By the time he was finished, he gave out a total of $10,000. He said that he, “felt sick to his stomach after seeing the lines of people with no means to put some bread on the table for their family.” Here's a story about sharing hope in a tangible way. 

I'm not a Patriots fan, but I am a fan of THIS! The New England Patriots team plane was seen taking off earlier this week and no one knew why. Turns out, Patriots owner Robert Kraft sent the plane to China to pick up 1.4 million N95 masks and bring them back to Massachusetts to distribute them to medical professionals all over the state. Robert Kraft also purchased an additional 300,000 masks to be used in New York where the virus has hit especially hard. Full story here. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name is synonymous for a lot of things, but recently, it's philanthropist. He has personally donated $1 million to the Frontline Responders Fund and hand delivered 50,000 face masks to doctors in the Los Angeles area. Arnold said, “Our doctors, nurses and hospital staff are the real action heroes of this crisis. I just play one in the movies. With all of the courageous work they are doing on the front lines to keep us safe, buying a few hundred thousand masks with a million dollars is the least I can do. Please take a moment to join me in supporting our heroes.” Full story here. 

When you hear that hospitals are packed in New York, how do you help? You build another one! First responders from Samaritan’s Purse are on the ground  in NYC setting up a 68-bed field hospital right in the middle of Central Park! The field hospital is staffed with 70 physicians, nurses and other medical staff who’ve all donated their time. Samaritan’s Purse founder Franklin Graham said, “We're coming up on Easter and this is a great time to remind people that God loves us, He hasn't turned his back on us. We're going to give the best health care we can to all New Yorkers, it doesn't matter who they are or what they are. We're going to give them the best medical care that we possibly can in Jesus' name.” Full story here. 

Dr. Sarosh Ashraf Janjua was driving to a nearby hospital last weekend to help her patients and she was pulled over for speeding. Trooper Brian Schwartz found out she was a doctor, he told her that she shouldn’t have been speeding and went back to his patrol car. Dr. Sarosh fully expected him to return with a ticket, but he returned with 5 N95 face masks – all of which the state had given him for his own protection! Dr. Sarosh said, “This complete stranger, who owed me nothing and is more on the front lines than I am, shared his precious masks with me, without my even asking. The veil of civilization may be thin, but not all that lies behind it is savage. We are going to be ok.” Full story here.

Opening Day for Major League Baseball was scheduled to be last week, but because of the current circumstances plaguing the nation, that date had to be pushed back indefinitely leaving ballpark employees temporarily without a job. The office of MLB got together last week to discuss how to help those employees, so each of the 30 MLB teams is pledging $1 million to their home ballpark to make sure each employee is paid for the time being. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “I am proud that our clubs came together so quickly and uniformly to support these individuals who provide so much to the game we love.” Full story here. 

Skillets is a restaurant in Naples, Florida. A few weeks ago, they were forced to close their doors, but just before they did, an anonymous customer stopped by to eat and left behind a $10,000 tip. Management had to lay off about 90% of its workforce, but this tip was a huge blessing to the remaining employees. Owner Ross Edlund said, “We don’t know who he was yet. I’m trying to figure it out. It’s funny because we have regulars who have been coming in forever, and they’re our friends but we don’t always know their names. We know their faces, their orders, their favorite tables, but we don’t know exactly who they are.” Full story here. 

Michelle Floering is a principal at Grand Traverse Academy in Traverse City, Michigan. Her senior class  has 47 students who earned a valedictorian and salutatorian honor award. Usually each student is notified in person, but because of extenuating circumstances, the students had to be called. Michelle didn’t feel this was right though. Michelle knew that one of her awarded students works at a local fast food chain, so she got into her car and drove down to tell her the news. Kaitlyn was the awarded student and she said, “It meant the world to me. She did not have to drive out there to tell me and she did. She really made an effort to make the moment so special.” Full story here!

Local companies stepping up to help serve our city during this crisis warms my heart so much and yesterday, Las Vegas Sands announced that they’ll be donating more than 2 million pieces of Personal Protection Equipment to help fight against the Coronavirus. They’re donating 2 million medical masks and 20,000 protective suits. (Las Vegas Sands operates the Venetian & Palazzo hotel resorts) One million masks will be distributed here in Nevada. The other million will be sent to NYC which is the center of the outbreak currently. The company is also donating $250,000 to several local organizations including Three Square Food Bank, Communities In Schools and Share Village Las Vegas. Full story here.
 

People in New Jersey are getting major cabin fever with the state's lockdown. The police department is doing what they can to help out a little. Three different police associations in Toms River, NJ got together and purchased 300 pizzas for the community. Officer Jesse Robertazzi said, “Pizza is unique. A large pie can feed a family of four, potentially. It's circular and brings everyone together to pull a slice off to eat. For families, it gave them a sense of normality by getting out the house and getting into their favorite pizza shop.” Full story here. 

Ty Warner is the chairman of the company which owns the Four Seasons in midtown Manhattan. Four Seasons is a five-star hotel and just this week, he closed down his hotel to public usage and is opening it to medical employees and other people on the front lines of the Coronavirus battle completely free of charge. Within a 30-block radius, there are a number of prominent hospitals including Bellevue, NYU Langone and Mt. Sinai. He said, “It’s something we’re delighted to have come into agreement with. It will operate free of charge and our staff will operate the hotels as normal. The health workers will be able to stay there without any cost whatsoever in these next few months when they need isolation away from family members who may be affected by what’s going on.” Full story here.

I hope some of these stories brighten your listener's day. We know you have been working extra hard to keep your listeners encouraged so we wanted to share a few! If there is any way we can serve you, just let us know!

-Scott Herrold & Jayar Reeves
www.CreativeCardio.com