Portnoy created the Barstool Fund for the initiative and made his own donation of $500,000.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is helping small businesses that have been affected by the pandemic by raising money to donate to them, the Inside Hook reported.
Portnoy created the Barstool Fund for the initiative and made his own donation of $500,000. Since it was created two weeks ago, it has raised nearly $8 million and reportedly helped 30 businesses thus far.
In a video posted to Twitter, Portnoy said he started the fund after indoor dining in New York was shut down for a second time due to the rising COVID-19 transmission rates in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic. He also criticized the government for not releasing more funds to help the businesses.
“How do you expect these people to survive?” Portnoy said. “How are restaurants going to survive? Nobody in the government seems to care. Or at least no one is acting like they care.”
In order to be eligible to be recipients of money from the Barstool Fund, a business has to still be compensating its employees. Any business that is struggling to survive is able to apply as long as that requirement is met. He added that the recipients aren’t confined to New York.
Portnoy also said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that he didn’t think he would be the person having to organize this.
“I’d rather be sitting on a beach, betting on horses, drinking, but nobody else is going to do it. We have this big platform, so we’re going to try to help as many small businesses as we can.”
RELATED STORIES
