Peachwave employee Maya Borrero (far left) with co-workers (L to R) Madison Peraino, Carlota Charles and Meghan Reeve. Borrero volunteered to donate her tips to Typhoon Haiyan victim relief efforts, and other employees will join her, with the total to be matched by Peachwave.
Wilton High School junior Maya Borrero has been working at Peachwave Frozen Yogurt since it opened two weeks ago, but already she’s made an impression on her new boss–as well as making a difference in the world.
Last week she told the store’s manager, Ryan Ventura, she planned to donate her share of tips to support relief efforts helping the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and wondered if some of the other employees would like to chip in too.
“My whole life my mom has tried to get us involved in helping out the community. When Hurricane Katrina hit, I was in second grade, and she help me and two friends set up a lemonade stand. We raised $2,000. When national disasters happen, I try and figure out how I can help,” Maya explained. “We make a lot in tips here during the week so I thought maybe for a couple weeks we could donate our tips. Especially because I know it’s been really slow in the Philippines getting help where they need it.”
Store manager Ventura did take it to the other employees, who he said “all want to do something to help out after all the devastation,” so some are joining Borrero in donating all their tips, and some will donate a portion.
He said it speaks to the character of the kind of kids his new team is. “It’s a huge testimony to what these kids are about. Who they are and what they do in their own personal time carries over to their character when they’re working and serving other people here in the store. It’s showing me that this is not just a job for them, and that they enjoy it so much they’re willing to give their tip money away to people who are in far more need than we are. It’s a good sign of what this community is teaching the next generation.”
But the effort has grown even larger. Ventura mentioned the Wilton teen’s plan to Gregg Roberts, who owns three other Peachwaves in addition to the Wilton location. Roberts was so moved, he immediately pledged to match anything the Wilton teen employees raise, and said he’d take the effort to the other Peachwave locations in Norwalk, Westport and Mt. Kisco as well.
Borrero was thrilled when she heard her idea sparked a much larger chance to help even more. “I didn’t think of any of that before, I just wanted to help out. But it’s kinda cool that it’s having a snowball effect,” she said.
The donations will go to a charity called World Relief. “They stay committed to a natural disaster area after all the press and media are gone to help reestablish the community in the affected area. It’s more than just MRE’s for the short term, they commit for the long-term,” Ventura explained.
As for the budding fro-yogurtista-slash-philanthropist Borrero, she’s happily committed to working at Peachwave. “I really enjoy working here. the people are really nice and it’s a fun environment.”
Given the kind of difference she’s making in the world, it’s not difficult to imagine there are lots of people thinking Maya is pretty nice herself as well.