Local Video Game Store Gifts $1,500 Grant

Local Video Game Store Gifts $1,500 Grant

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Game On owner Tristan Whitworth plays a video game with a child. Photo from Tristan Whitworth

By Leah Chiappino

Despite his business facing its own financial struggles, Tristan Whitworth, the owner of #GameOn Video Games, with locations in Smithtown and Miller Place, is donating a $1,500 grant to a neighboring small business.

The Shoreham resident made the announcement on #GameOn’s Facebook page June 2.

“We would like to help. Here is our story; let’s hear yours,” the post reads. “We did 10% of our normal sales through the store during the quarantine and we were lucky and appreciative for even that. In fact, we were one of the lucky small businesses that were able to make it through this unscathed because we were able to sell our products online. Many local businesses were not so lucky … These are not people trying to make millions, but people just trying to support their families. I know $1,500 isn’t a lot, but it’s what we can give and [the grant] may help someone [in a big way].”

#GameOn, which first opened its Miller Place location in 2015, specializes in the buying and selling of retro video games, action figures and collectibles. This isn’t the first time the local business has given back to the community. A 2017 TBR News Media Person of the year, Whitworth has previously hosted several game nights for special needs children, all for free.

When approached for an interview, Whitworth humbly said he didn’t think the grant was “a big deal.”

“I was just driving to work one day, and saw the roads were empty, no one was out, and I saw vacant signs for rent — everywhere,” he said. “I don’t know it, it just hit me.” He was then contacted by a former high school classmate, Elizabeth Vogel, Elizabeth Vogel, who agreed to match the grant using funds from the Frank and Deborah Giving Tree, a memorial fund in honor of her parents.

“We were pretty poor, when we grew up,” she said. “We were on welfare and food stamps and all of that, but my parents, no matter what they had, were always giving to everybody. My dad would have given you the shirt off his back or his last dollar.”

Whitworth will decide on a winner of the grant in the coming days.