Midmorning With Aundrea - December 10, 2020 (Part 3)

On one nashville couple is harnessing the generosity of their massive social media following to leave huge tips for strangers .

Videographer lexy burke and her husband, country musician austin burke, capture the moment they surprise people with tips of at least 500- dollars.

The couple uses tik-tok to raise the money to help americans financially hurt by the pandemic.

They spoke to our errol barnett about how the challenge grew to help so many people.

Lexy: if i give you $1,000 dollars, that would cover it?

Man: $1,000?

Tipping strangers $1,000 has become the norm for nashville couple lexy and austin burke.

Woman: are you serious?

Oh my god.

It's their version of a popular tiktok trend called "the venm challenge" wher users crowdfund small mobile challenge" wher users crowdfund small mobile payments for tips.

I noticed-- different users // were asking their followers to venmo them // so i just decided to do this venmo challenge, but for the service industry.

Lexy and austin have both waited tables before so they know how essential tips are for servers.

I randomly got a $1,000 tip // a few years back.

So that was something i had always wanted to do to pay it forward.

She started paying it forward with this simple request to her followers& : if every follower venmo's me 50 cents, we could leave a massive tip for somebody.

Her venmo account filled with donations... totaling more than three thousand dollars.

// did you expect, lexy, that you would even raise the amount you did the first time?

Absolutely not.

Those receiving the tips were just as shocked.

Man: i don't even know what to say.

The newlyweds have now raised more than $155,000 shared with more than 100 strangers // we just did one on thanksgiving day.

// we ordered some pizza // the recipient just was so sweet and so gracious.

Man: i live paycheck to paycheck.

I was wondering where i was going to get this money from.

We had a server // she broke down // because she just said she unfortunately was getting evicted from her home.

Woman: oh my god.

Thank you.

// we made a pact that number one, we would give all the money out.

And number two, // we would just leave it up to god to who we got as our server.

: lexy: i'm going to tip you $1,000 dollars.

Tommy: for real?

Inspired by all those that gave to him, nail technician tommy nguyen decided to pay his tip forward.

I split it up.

I gave some to my family.// i gave it back to my dance community // how much of the $1000 did you keep for yourself?

50 bucks.

// // 00:06:18 // there's just so many-- so many people that i wanted to give out.

So many people touched by a simple act of kindness.

This isn't from lexy or myself.

This is from thousands and thousands of people that genuinely care about you and love you.

// what's your hope for the people who've been on the receiving end of these gifts?

My hope for them is just to keep doin' what they're doin' // whether you're serving or a nurse, you're so appreciated.

// i feel like this year, we've all been able to come together 'em have talked about paying it forward, too.

Barnett outcue: just to be clear, they do get permission from every server they record before putting them on camera.

Lexy and austin are now doing their final round of fundraising for 20.

But they say they get something out of this as well.

Take a look at this footage.

It's lexy and tommy dancing to lizzo's "trut hurts."

The tw now take dance classes together, and of course they credit this challenge and the entire experience with bringing them together.

The hope is that it becomes contagious and that everyone who receives money will pay it forward.

Errol barnett, cbs news, new york.

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