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Jason Herron would be the first to tell you how much he loves a night out: good drinks, good food, good times with good friends.

If you go out enough, become a regular at a few places, those friends eventually include the bartenders and servers that help make your good times so good. So even though Ohio鈥檚 bars and restaurants are closed under coronavirus restrictions, Herron is #StillTipping every Saturday night on Facebook Live (and that鈥檚 #coronakind!).

With the help of friends and complete strangers, he has given away more than $12,000 (and counting).

It started with a few friends and a couple hundred bucks in gift cards, meaning to help out some of the now-struggling service industry workers they've gotten to know over the years.

鈥淲orking at a car dealership long hours, I鈥檇 go to the bars a lot, I鈥檇 go to restaurants because I didn't want to go home and cook. So I got to know a lot of waiters, waitresses, bartenders, et cetera...,鈥� he said. "So when this all happened, a lot of friends got put out of work."

Herron contacted a few buddies with the idea of pooling some money, getting a few gift cards 鈥� one for $200 and another for $100 鈥� and throwing the names of anyone who said they wanted in via Facebook into a bowl.

鈥淚 figured, we'll put something on my page and then our friends can put their names in and we'll do a random drawing help out two of our friends,鈥� he said.

It only took a few hours for Herron鈥檚 idea to explode into on online mini-movement.

鈥淪o I made the post. It was Friday, March 20, I鈥檒l never forget it now. I just said, hey, I'm going to draw two gift cards tomorrow for our service industry workers that are our friends that are out of work to help them out,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 posted and it was probably around 6:30 p.m. Boom, post, turn my phone off. Whatever. Check it about 8:30 and I saw there's 100 comments. I was like, 100 comments? Holy cow, we thought it would be 20 people!鈥�

He texted his friends with the news, stressed a little about having to write out 100 names and establishments out on slips of paper and went to bed. He woke up the next morning to 1,000 people hoping to get in on the first drawing.

Since then, Herron estimates the number of names collected at 鈥渆asily 4,000." Through the drawings, he has given away $12,200 to 77 people 鈥� 鈥渁ll donations, every penny,鈥� he said. Another $1,100 will be given away May 2, marking the 11 ^th round of drawings over seven weeks.

The #StillTipping Facebook Live event now has T-shirts ($25 each, with proceeds going into the giveaway pot) and a regular viewing 鈥� and donating! 鈥� audience. There are even occasional drinking games, aimed at raising more money to give away.

鈥淚鈥檝e got people telling me their whole families get together to watch this,鈥� Herron said. 鈥淎nd the people that are winning, a lot of them are now logged on to watch and we get to see their reactions. I'm getting people calling me on Facebook Messenger after they win, just bawling their eyes out, saying 'I don't know how I was going to eat tomorrow.' Oh, my God. I mean, it is dire. They are just so grateful for even a hundred dollars.鈥�

The drawings are totally random, he said, and come from two basket 鈥� one with just the names of family and friends, mostly local to Northeast Ohio, since that was the original premise. But that basket is nearly empty now, he said.

鈥淓veryone we don't know goes is a big basket that gets probably 70 percent of the drawings,鈥� he said. Names stay in their respective baskets week after week, only coming out after that person wins.

Herron has some help now, but the thousands of names and locations are still handwritten. [Jason Herron]

The concept also has expanded beyond Northeast Ohio and even Herron himself.

鈥淲e had a winner from Toledo last time Tuesday night. We don't know anybody from Toledo, so, it's cool鈥� there鈥檚 been Sandusky, Toledo, Columbus. It's all over Ohio,鈥� he said.

Down in Southwest Ohio, Sara Spears has started a similar Friday night drawing, #KeepTipping, inspired by Herron鈥檚 efforts.

鈥淪he reached out to me, she even took notes, she鈥檚 super cool. And she's just doing it for the same reason we did,鈥� Herron said. 鈥淪he saw the people struggling and she told me that she prayed on it, prayed for what to do to help, and then she was on Facebook and she found Jason Herron and #StillTipping and said 鈥業 need to do the same thing for my friends and the people I know.鈥欌��

Herron鈥檚 dedicated #StillTipping Venmo account (Jason-Herron-19) is open and transparent, so donors can track the cash using the hashtag and he continues to The next drawing is at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 2 and a 鈥渂onus drawing鈥� is planned for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5 鈥� Cinco de Mayo.