A five-year old little girl named Jayden, after finding out about the concept of the Westboro Baptist Church, decided she wanted to offset their hate by raising money for peace. The daughter of Jon Sink (founder of FRESHCASSETE) set up her lemonade stand across the street from the Westboro compound, at the LGBT Equality House, which was purchased by the founder of Planting Peace, and intentionally painted with the Pride rainbow colors. Jayden raised $400 on June 14, and she has raised over $1000 with an online campaign.
Her 'Pink Lemonade For Peace' sign, suggested a $1 donation for a cool drink of lemonade, and was embraced by many supporters driving by. One person contributed $230.
Westboro reportedly tried intervene by calling the police and failed. Thankfully, these days, we're seeing more and more individuals, small groups and large organizations standing up to Westboro. This past year a whole California community came out to physically block a planned Westboro protest against a pro-LGBT high school. The community formed a human chain, until the Westboro gang finally gave up and left. Anonymous has been known to mess with Westboro, and in May, internet h'activist upset the Westboro hate website, 'GodHatesOklahoma.com,' to damn Oklahoma tornado victims. Viewers who went to the site were redirected to a Red Crossdonation center, which helped raise thousands for tornado victims. And now we have a precious little girl objecting to Westboro's hate, and sending a message of peace with a simply summer lemonade stand.
This is what the loving innocence of a child and the good in humanity can do to counter the hate - smother it with love. Having this experience at only five years of age, one can only wonder what kind of beauty Jayden is going bring into this world during her life.
Update: June 17, 5:42 pm EDT - Here is the online campaign link for donating to Jayden's Pink Lemonade Stand For Peace. Her original goal was $500. She has now has raised close to $15,000. This is most enjoyable.