philly diner
PHOTO COURTESY ASHLEY HAUN
SOME CHRISTMAS CHEER — NIKA Athletics owner Ashley Haun, standing at left, poses with Philly Diner waitress Tammy Colero. Seated are the rest of Haun’s party from NIKA Athletics. From left, clockwise around the table, are Eva Mendez, Kraig Kemp, Kara Haun, P-Nut Davis, Zachary Beaver, Amanda Newcomb, Randy Newcomb, Sonny Newcomb, Chris Joachim, Angie Carroll and Charlie Cemelich.

Philly Diner waitress Tammy Colero hoped for a nice tip from the party of 12 she waited on Dec. 23, but the last thing she expected was a $1,000 tip.

“It was like a shock,” she told The Beacon. “I’ve never had anything like that happen.”

The tip came from Ashley Haun and a group from the fitness center NIKA Athletics. This is the fourth year in a row they’ve raised money and donated it to a server at a random restaurant.

Haun said they love seeing the excitement from the servers when they see their tips.

“It’s such a cool moment,” she said.

When Haun donated the money, Colero pulled her in for a hug.

“What a wonderful moment this was today to share this gift to a complete stranger,” Haun said.

The money was fully raised by donations that came from NIKA’s “Burpees for Bucks” events. For every dollar donated, a coach of the donor’s choice had to do one burpee, an exercise performed by doing a pushup and then leaping into the air.

NIKA members then select a random restaurant and donate the money to their server.

For Colero, who lives in Orlando but commutes to DeLand to work at the local diner, that money is going straight to car repairs.

“I thought, ‘That was a nice party, I should make a decent tip off of it,’” Colero said with a laugh. “It was very sweet of them.”

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