Richmond moms give hate the what for

When Sarah Allen-Short, Jessica Lucia, and our own Patience Salgado heard that Westboro Baptist Church was planning to come to Richmond on March 2 to protest at the Holocaust Museum, University of Richmond Hillel, The Jerusalem Connection, and Hermitage High School’s Gay Student Union, they searched for a way to turn the church’s hate into something good.

March 3, 2010; 10:25 AM • by Valerie Catrow

When Sarah Allen-Short, Jessica Lucia, Sara Heifetz, and our own Patience Salgado heard that Westboro Baptist Church was planning to come to Richmond on March 2 to protest at the Holocaust Museum, University of Richmond Hillel, The Jerusalem Connection, and Hermitage High School’s Gay Student Union, they searched for a way to turn the church’s hate into something good.

And what they did… well, it was pretty genius.

These four Richmond mothers created Pennies in Protest (taking inspiration from a similar situation in New York), a fundraising effort in which people could either donate a lump sum or pledge a certain amount of money for every minute that WBC protested. Those funds will then be donated to the very groups WBC hates the most.

But wait, it gets better.

Then (THEN!) these lovely ladies are going to send notes to WBC thanking them for bringing attention these organizations.

Why this approach? Here’s an insightful excerpt from the Pennies in Protest website:

We don’t want to ignore the Westboro Baptish Church and let their meanness go unchallenged. We want the targets of the WBC’s poison to know that they are loved. We want cities around the country to welcome WBC protests because the WBC’s presence will rally the community for love and kindness, and even earn a few bucks in the process.

WBC did show up yesterday as planned. Their numbers were small (three adults and one child), but they were given quite a greeting as hundreds of Richmonders turned up in counter-protest. That combined with the fact that as of THIS EXACT MOMENT IN TIME, Pennies in Protest has raised $10,351 (since February 25 — that’s less than a week) I think that pretty much shows where Richmond stands on the issue of spouting off hatred.

Way to show the love (and give hate the what for), RVA!

Pennies in Protest will be accepting contributions through Friday, March 5.