Marlboro Diner donating tips to St. Jude Children's Hospital

It's always great to see someone or a group of people helping others.

We need people to help people, not because it's obligatory but genuine, no matter what.

When you're looking for inspiration on what it means to do the right thing for the right reasons and doing so with hearts of gold -- look to Kara Petrou and her staff at the Marlboro Diner on Route 9 in Monmouth County.

Marlboro Diner owner Kara Petrou (L) and Evangelia Italou wear masks preparing Passover meals for pickup on April 08, 2020 in Marlboro, New Jersey. The state limits restaurants to offering takeout and delivery service in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

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This week, from the 16th-22nd, Petrou and her staff will be working a shift and donating their tips to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in hopes of helping them help kids.

The idea came from one of her servers while they were on break together.

"The waitress was just like, you know it would be a great thing to do our next 'pay it forward' event with raising money for St. Jude's and I was shocked that they thought of something so selfless," Petrou tells Townsquare Media News. "I'm always on board with most of their ideas and we thought that each waitress will work a shift, they can choose whatever shift whether it's during the week or on the weekend, and all their money that they collect with their tips they would donate towards the foundation."

So, Kara and her staff started mapping out how this would all work, who would be on when and how they can raise as much money as they can for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

"I said I'm going to work a whole shift on my day off, I'm going to work 10-9 at night," Petrou said.

And, she's not the only one, the other manager at the diner is following suit with that particular plan.

It's a collaborative effort at the Marlboro Diner throughout the week.

"I just thought that it was a really good team bonding experience to see how much we can raise and do good for the community and we love the kids that come in, so it's a great thing all around to do something for us, for them, for St. Jude's Hospital, for the community and show the community that we are very team and family oriented," Petrou said.

Marlboro Diner owner demonstrates servant leadership amid pandemic

You should always tip your wait staff and this is another reason to encourage you to do so, this time it's going to children.

So when you go to the Marlboro Diner this week, tip as generously as your means allow.

"We are going to have donation bins set up by the registers for people that the waitresses not working that shift can donate," Petrou said.

If you can't make it into the Marlboro Diner this week and would still like to contribute to the cause, they've set up a Venmo page where you can do just that. Just go to MarlboroDiner-StJudes.

"I just think that it's extremely important to show that a lot of servers live off of their tips and especially with how hard this years been, it's been hard to make ends meet and they're being selfless enough to give their tips, for one shift, to St. Jude's Hospital," Petrou said. "It's an all around good thing, it's something positive in such a bad year of ups and downs, this is only positive."