Seasons of Grace
A five-year-old girl in Topeka, Kansas, has taken on the cause of world peace; and since Friday, June 14, she’s raised more than $16,000 for her cause.
Jayden Sink sells lemonade across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church, the controversial church which has scorned homosexuality by picketing soldiers’ funerals, celebrating massacres like September 11 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and protesting in front of the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Jayden was inspired to open the lemonade stand after her father explained to her the mission of Equality House, a rainbow-colored nonprofit which opened just three months ago in a house directly across from Westboro Baptist. Equality House, founded by the nonprofit group Planting Peace, chose the rainbow theme to counteract Westboro’s emphasis on anti-homosexual political action. The group’s website explains its many programs:
We have a variety of projects ranging from large-scale international efforts to grassroots initiatives. These include but are not limited to our multi-nation deworming campaign, Stomp the Worm, our environmental project, the Green It Movement, and our network of orphanages and safe havens all around the world.
Proceeds from Jayden’s lemonade sales will help Planting Peace to fund orphanages in Haiti, conserve rainforests, and provide medication to poverty-stricken children all over the world. People who can’t get to Jayden’s stand to taste her homemade lemonade can send a contribution via Crowdrise.com.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have been visibly upset, hurling insults at the little girl, her father and their customers. This weekend, the group expressed their frustration with off-color posts on Twitter.
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