Beats x Beers founder, Gift of Life team up on Virtual Trivia Night
Are you up on your pop culture knowledge, sports facts and local history? An upcoming virtual trivia night challenge may be just for you. 
Gift of Life Michigan and Brandon Corder, founder of Beats x Beers, are teaming up to provide a trivia contest to test participants’ knowledge of music, sports, local history, movies and pop culture and to provide information about organ and tissue donation.
“I thought this would be a fun way to engage the community and break down some common misconceptions about organ and tissue donation,” said Shalonda Griffin, community relations coordinator at Gift of Life. “A lot of good can come from organ and tissue donation, but it’s still a difficult issue to talk about.”
August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month, a collaborative effort by national organizations to save and improve the quality of life of diverse communities by creating a positive culture for organ, eye, and tissue donation. It’s designed to increase awareness about the need for minorities to sign up on the Organ Donor Registry, correct misconceptions about the process and encourage people to lead healthier lives. Of the more than 100,000 people waiting for new organs in the U.S., nearly 60 percent are minorities. In Michigan, about 1,000 of the 2,688 patients waiting for a new organ are either African American, Latinx or Arab American.
August is also National Black Business Month, which recognizes Black-owned businesses across the country. Many Flint-area business owners will take part in the trivia contest, talking about their businesses and offering prizes for contest winners, including: A. Michelle Designs, Beats x Beers, Crazy Legs, Eight One Zero and Elle Jae Essentials.
Gift of Life had planned to co-sponsor the annual Beats x BBQ festival, until the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation. Corder said the more he learned about the organization, the more interested he became, and he and Griffin came together for the trivia night, instead.
“We still wanted to collaborate and figure different ways to engage the community,” said Corder, a national promoter, event organizer and music producer. “I’ve developed a passion for it. I didn’t realize some of the statistics.”
The Virtual Trivial Night is scheduled from 7-8:15 p.m. Aug. 27. Anyone is welcome to sign up and take part. Prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers. To learn more or to sign up for the event, visit golm.org/trivia.
