A place to eat, drink and give to charity.
According to FOX News, Houston eatery, Original OKRA Charity, is helping turn cocktail snacks into hot meals and necessary essentials for the needy. The bar, which donates 100 percent of their profits to local charities, since opening last December, has collectively donated about $300,000 to over a dozen organizations.
Mike Criss, the bar's general manager told FOX that the idea for the first year, since opening, was to only donate a third of their amount.
"It was a good year. It's pretty amazing," Criss told FOX. "It's just the community coming together."
One charity reaping the benefits of Original OKRA Charity, was "For A Simple Thread," a nonprofit organization that help individuals with simple "everyday items such as socks, toothbrushes and books to homeless individuals."
According to FOX, the small organization has received about $16,000 from the OKRA Charity Saloon, which the group founder, Jacquie Brennan, said prompts the group to advance in work methods.
"We've never had that much money. It gave us the ability to do more for the people that we help," Brennan told FOX. "It gave us, as the smallest organization that ever won this thing, confidence in ourselves."
Original OKRA is just one of several bars, turning business into a charity opportunity. FOX reported that other locations include New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore. In Portland, the Oregon Public House has donated over $15,000 to charities, during their first six month of opening.
"I believe in this model, not just for us but for my city, for our state, for our country," Ryan Saari, director of The Oregon Public House's board told FOX News. "I think there is a lot of good that could be done, stepping outside of the box a little bit in terms of how we support and fund our nonprofits."
The Houston eatery was voted this year best bars by Playboy magazine. Original OKRA has four charities competing for donations each month.
