Too’s Spirits Under High isn’t the average campus-area bar. In addition to cheap drinks and live music, Too’s also offers customers something else: a chance to give back.
Tonight, Too’s will host its first fundraiser of 2010 for Haiti disaster relief. But owner Scott Ellsworth has been hosting charity events ever since he bought the bar two-and-a-half years ago.
Ellsworth said the idea for giving back more often was shaped by early events in his ownership.
“When I first bought the bar, there was a regular of ours who committed suicide. He came in a lot, and our bartender was friends with his family,” Ellsworth said. “So we did a charity event for him to raise money for suicide awareness.”
With the money Too’s raised, the boy’s mother took half and donated it to suicide prevention to help others across the country.
“So from that point on we all had a good feel about it, it felt right,” Ellsworth said. “We thought we should do that more often.”
A year went by before Too’s was contacted by a girl on Facebook raising money for multiple sclerosis. Ellsworth offered 25 percent of a Wednesday night’s sales to the cause.
Then came the revelation: “Let’s do one every month,” Ellsworth said.
“There [are] a million different charities out there, and I know we can’t give a ton of money,” Ellsworth said. “But we have some of the most loyal regulars on campus. [They’ve] always come out for any event we’ve had.”
Ellsworth said his family’s experience with cancer, AIDS, and other conditions that affect everyday people helped him realize he wanted do more for a larger demographic.
“Why not give a little bit to everybody instead of doing one big one a year,” Ellsworth said.
Doors open today at 8 p.m., without a cover charge. There will be a silent auction of donated items, drink specials and live music by Jon White.
“To have people come, to get more money, that’s the key,” Ellsworth said. “We want to take as much money from people as we can. The more money we make, the more money we can give.”
Ellsworth said some of the silent auction items consist of zoo passes and a homemade corn hole game.
“This is all stuff people are donating because it’s for the cause,” Ellsworth said. “And 100 percent of [proceeds] go to the cause.”
Additionally, 50 percent of the night’s alcohol sales will be added to the silent auction profits and then donated to the Haiti Relief Fund.
Bartender Dave Louthan, 28, has worked at Too’s for the last five years and said Ellsworth has really cleaned the place up, working on advertising and new ideas for events like Haiti relief to give back to the global community.
“You can do it by yourself, but if you’re in a group like this you can have fun and everybody kind of wins,” Louthan said about the event. “And it still goes to a good cause instead of just a random night’s [profit].
Whether or not customers will support the cause, Louthan thinks it’s an easy decision.
“Around here everybody is going to come out and drink anyways. If it’s for a good cause, at least they feel better about drinking,”
Louthan said. “Why not support something you see on the news every day. You may not want to give $10.00 to [a charity directly], but if $5.00 of your tab does, then maybe you will.”
In February, Too’s is teaming up with 21-year-old Brittany Adamany, an Ohio State senior in health sciences and a participant of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training.” Adamany, whose grandfathers passed away from cancer, said Ellsworth offered to host an event in February after replying to a Facebook event Adamany sent out to friends.
“Every once in awhile you hear about bars doing fundraisers,” Adamany said. “Just the fact that [hosting a monthly event] is one of [Too’s] goals for the year, think about how many people it will help if they’re having 12 [different] fundraisers.”
Adamany said she is hoping February’s event will draw a lot of people to help raise money for her run on May 1 in The Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus.
“You come in and drink and your money is going to go to cancer research,” Adamany said. “The proceeds I receive will significantly help me in my goal, whether it’s $100 or $500.”
But what’s in store for the other 10 months of 2010? Ellsworth said they’re still early in the process of figuring out how the charity of the month idea will work, but he’s willing to take proposals from anyone.
“Maybe [the cause is] something nobody knows about but we can bring some awareness to it. We would do pretty much anything,”
Ellsworth said. “I’m really just interested to see what happens.
OSU Industrial engineering major, Blake Engholm, 21, offers the simplest reason why he supports Too’s charity events in 2010.
“We spend enough money [and] it’s a good idea,” he said, “so why not?”
