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Pokemon GO Players Help Businesses Recover

Pokemon GO is a game focused on getting out and doing things. In the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns, along with protests and riots that rocked the world, businesses were left in ruins. Niantic (the developer of Pokemon GO) is getting the Pokemon GO community involved in the recovery efforts. But how can Pokemon GO players help businesses recover?

For those who don’t know, Pokemon GO is an augmented reality smartphone game that allows players to catch in-game monsters (the Pokemon) by traveling to real-world locations. Two big mechanics of the game are PokeStops, which allow players to acquire items and quests, and Gyms, which players can conquer for their team and place their Pokemon to guard.

Naturally, these real-world locations attract many Pokemon GO players. Many of the locations are civic or cultural landmarks such as parks and churches, but Niantic has also allowed businesses to pay a fee to make their operations into “sponsored” PokeStops, thereby drawing Pokemon GO-playing customers.

Pokemon GO Players Help Businesses Recover
Image Credit: Niantic

But now Niantic is taking a different approach—one that will let Pokemon GO Players help businesses recover. “At Niantic, we are passionate about bringing communities together and lifting one another up, through the good times and the challenging times,” the company said on their blog. “We understand that many local businesses have experienced unprecedented hardship over the past few months, and we want to help.”

It’s one thing for a big company like Niantic to help businesses, but where to the players come in? The blog continued: “We are inviting Pokémon GO players to nominate their favorite small, local businesses to participate in the Niantic Local Business Recovery Initiative. As part of our efforts to assist the economic recovery of local businesses, we are committed to supporting 1,000 nominated businesses by providing them complimentary promotion in Pokémon GO for one year.

In other words, Niantic will turn the winning storefronts into PokeStops and Gyms in the Pokemon GO game. The businesses will even have access to exclusive in-game promotions. This will raise awareness of the small businesses, draw more traffic to the stores, and help them on the road to economic recovery.

The nominations are open until 31 July, so if you’re a Pokemon GO player head on over and nominate your favorite local business that’s in need of a boost! If you don’t play Pokemon GO, then take a moment to appreciate how people voluntarily help each other in new and innovative ways.

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Charity Amongst the Flames

Can charitable individuals raise $300k for a business destroyed by looters?

 

The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was the focus of many protests across the country on May 27 & 28. These protests later led to riots and looting in the streets of Minneapolis. Unfortunately, this left almost 170 businesses in ruins. One of those businesses was Scores Sports Bar, owned and operated by KB Balla and his wife Twyana. KB is a firefighter with the Brooklyn Center Fire Department and active member in his community.

charitable individuals raise $300k for a business destroyed by looters
KB Balla and his wife, Twyana.

Scores Sports Bar was set for a grand opening in the spring, and then the pandemic hit and then the opening was put on hold. Then the murder of George Floyd sparked the protests and riots in their city. KB and his family poured their life savings into their business, just to watch it go up in flames in a matter of hours. Looters even attempted to rob the safe while the owners were inside the building. KB wasn’t sure what to do after watching all his hard work destroyed.

charitable individuals raise $300k for a business destroyed by looters
KB surveys the damage outside of his destroyed business.

Needless to say, KB didn’t expect what was going to come next after setting up a GoFundMe in the hopes of being able to rebuild. With an original goal of $100k, they have met, and exceeded their goal by additional $200k at the time this article was written. We don’t have to agree on the protests or riots, but we can all agree that this man’s loss is a tragedy—and to see so many come together in this man’s time of need is an amazing story. Not to mention, only charitable individuals raise $300k for a business destroyed by looters—no government program can do that.

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