Donations for Embattled Indiana Pizzeria Top $800K
The recent media uproar over Indiana's religious freedom law has put a small-town pizzeria in the spotlight.
Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, was forced to shut down after receiving threats for saying they would serve gay customers but they wouldn't cater a same-sex wedding.
Supporters then launched a website where people could help the owners raise money to stay open.
In an amazing show of support, they had received well over $800,000 by the time donations closed Saturday.
What was the family's reaction when they found out how much money had been raised to help them? Ben Howe, Head Writer for theDana Loesch Program for Blaze TV who created the Gofundme.com page for the O'Connor family answered this question and more.
Lawrence B. Jones III, a contributor on The Blaze network's "The Dana Show," set up the fundraiser.
"It's not about gay and straight," Jones told Indiana's WNDU. "We've had gays give to this fund that sent us emails saying, 'Thank you.'"
"We love our gay brothers and sisters," he continued. "But it's about freedom and when that freedom is taken away from people, I don't know what we can do as a country but other than to do something like this to really let our voices be heard."
The incident appears to have also sparked a peak in donations for a Washington state florist who was fined $1,000 for refusing to sell flowers for a gay wedding. She also faces a lawsuit for saying such weddings go against her Southern Baptist beliefs. Arlene's Flowers has received over $85,000 in donations.
