A group that formed to counteract in a positive way a visit from Westboro Baptist Church raised thousands for four area organizations that were targeted by the protesters.
RICHMOND, VA. — A group that formed to counteract in a positive way a visit from Westboro Baptist Church raised thousands for four area organizations that were targeted by the protesters.
“Pennies in Protest” developed a formula that allowed people to pledge money based on the amount of time the church’s members would be in Richmond, a total of 2 hours on March 2. Those who pledged a penny per minute donated $1.20, those who pledged 10 cents a minute gave $12.00, etc.
The end result was a national outpouring that resulted in over $12,000 being split between the four organizations WBC visited during their time: The Virginia Holocaust Museum, the University of Richmond Hillel organization at the Jewish Community Center, the Jerusalem Connection, and Hermitage High School because the school allowed the creation of a gay student group.
“There is so much debate in the community about whether to counter-protest this group or just ignore them,” said Sarah Allen-Short, the spokesperson for Pennies in Protest. “What better way to turn their mission of hate into a mission of love than to ensure their very presence results in donations to the organizations that they wish to harm.”
“In light of the messages that will be spread by WBC ... we need to offer Richmond a kinder, more hopeful way forward,” said Patience Salgado, founder of www.kindnessgirl.com and organizer of regular “Guerrilla Goodness” actions around the country. “We have the power to make their visit to Richmond result in goodness, positive energy, community support, and money for some of the best organizations in our city.”
“Those of us that started this group have ten children among the four of us,” added Jessica Lucia. “Ignoring expressions of hatred is not something we want to model for our children and we want to live in a world where hatred is met with an outpouring of love.”
The Westboro Baptist Church has been an outspoken group against the GLBT community, famously operating the Web site www.godhatesfags.com.