Source: Greg Endries /SHOWTIME / Greg Endries /SHOWTIME
This week it was reported that bodegas in New York City had become a hot spot for criminal activity due to the struggles that the pandemic has inflicted on the way of life of Big Apple residents and bodega owners themselves. Luckily many of us appreciate the corner stores that have become staples in our communities and recently Desus Nice and The Kid Mero teamed up with Pepsi to spread some of that Christmas spirit and gave a little something something back to a bodega in the Bronx.
Dubbed “The Bodega Giveback” Desus, Mero and Pepsi blessed Bronx bodega owner, Juan Valerio with a check big enough to cover a full year’s worth of rent to ensure he isn’t one of the many small businesses that would be forced to shut down due to the pandemic. But Juan is just the first of many bodega owners to get blessed by the giveback program.
The short film kicks off a larger giveback program from Pepsi this holiday season that includes gifting cash to bodegas across all five boroughs of NYC. Additionally, starting today, in an effort to encourage NYers to support their local corner store and ease the holiday spending burden, Pepsi will surprise shoppers with $100 prepaid credit cards throughout the city from 12/11-12/20.
Referring to bodegas as “the lifeblood of the community,” Desus and Mero know how important it is to keep neighborhood bodegas open as their owners and employees become friends and family to it’s customers over the years and even decades. Sure, a Walgreens and Rite Aid might be bigger and have more product, but they ain’t letting you take anything on an IOU plan like a bodega, will they? Appreciate and support your local bodega because ultimately they’ll do the same for you.
Check out the emotional short film below and don’t ever stop shopping at your local bodega.
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