Viral Tik Tok videographer gives back to the community

(ABC 6 NEWS) – "Every day I drive by those kids that sell lemonade on Elton Hills Dr.," said local video marketer Evan Schlee.

That’s how Schlee’s mission to give back started. He made a viral Tik Tok video of kids selling lemonade.

"Those little kids are dedicated," Schlee said.

He is a freelance videographer and marketer, taking commissions for work. He loves videography and he uses it to give back to the community.

"I feel as though you should keep it fun. Don’t lose sight of what made you love it when you first started," he said.

Schlee reached out to the public and which businesses deserved some free promotion. He offered to shoot videos for them free of charge. Many people mentioned well-loved Japanese Steakhouse Jenpachi.

"Everybody loves Jenpachi from what I know," Schlee said.

The new restaurant owners opened Jenpachi in December 2020 after the pandemic forced previous owners to close.

"We took over from that. We just didn’t want to see a Rochester restaurant like this die. We’ve been coming here for 17 years for all our special occasions," part-owner Amy Zoller said.

Recovering from the pandemic is a long process. The Zollers are thankful for their Rochester community for getting them through it. They were only able to open Jenpachi at half-capacity at first.

"Which was tough, but Rochester made it great," Zoller said.

They’re thankful to Evan for spreading the word.

"We’re trying something new but we want to get our name out cause there’s still people out there I think that don’t know we’re open yet," she said.

His videos are geared toward social media like Facebook, Twitter and Tik Tok. They’ve gotten thousands of views online. Evan says he plans to keep finding businesses that could use some free promotion. He wants to keep making videos and keep connected to the community.