Who Knows, Maybe It’ll Be A Thing #KeepTheChange

By Cooper Banks

I’ve been doing something lately I think may apply on a much broader level now that we’re seeing so much civil unrest around the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police.

So many people want to see change, the kind of social and institutional change that actually sticks.

Also…local small businesses are devastated by looting and riots along with those still suffering through economic impacts from the COVID-19 crisis.  Those businesses need as much revenue as they can possibly get right now.

So, at this juncture, I should state that I make a decent living in this job, at least good enough to give back, financially in some small way.

As COVID-19 ravaged small, local businesses in Portland and their employees — I really wanted to find a meaningful way to “give back” or to help.  So, I’ve made a habit of not taking change when I use cash for transactions (yes, COVID police, I sometimes use cash).

Keep the change.

Sometimes I’ll even pass a $20 bill on something that costs far less — and I’ll still say “keep the change”.

I figure it’s one very small way that I can help.  Maybe I’m wrong.  What if multitudes of people did the same thing?  Every little bit counts, right?

And what if we made the social change that we can and should keep in order to create “a more perfect union.”

Keep the change.

I dunno, food for thought.