By Sophie Pappas
Last week, we highlighted the 20 Girl Scout troopers in their effort to send at least two World War II veterans to Washington D.C. as part of the Indy Honor Flight program. Because of the generous people in Zionsville, the troop raised more than $400 in one day at Akard True Value Hardware. Now the girls are raising so much money, they may be able to send four veterans on the one-day excursion. What a blessing it will be for our veterans to visit the remains of their friends lost in the war, and the memorial dedicated to their hard work and sacrifice. Thank you, Zionsville, for showing support to the Girl Scouts and our veterans.
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Several weeks ago, I wrote a story about the plight of Le Dolce Vita cafe. The bakery once sat on a busy corner of Main Street, but went out of business at the beginning of the year, leaving owner Kelly Evans with outstanding bills and no funds to pay her employees their final paychecks.
I received an enormous amount of feedback from this story. Some of it was positive; some of it was not. One person said I am a Wal-Mart supporter out to ruin small businesses. Another called me an evil gossip columnist. Neither could be farther from the truth. I am a humanitarian who wanted to help minimum wage workers get their due earnings.
Also, I would like to note that within two days after our story was released, the unpaid employees received their final paychecks from Evans. So in the end, that story served its purpose.
Most surprising to me were the emails and phone calls from the kindhearted Zionsville folk who offered to donate money to the unpaid LDV employees. Someone even offered to hold a fundraiser to help Evans pay her bills. The fundraiser never came to fruition. But how amazing is it that people in Zionsville were willing to step out and help a hardworking businesswoman bow out of her business with grace? People who offer their time and money like that are what make this town so special.
Thank you to the people in Zionsville who support small businesses, local charities and Current in Zionsville. I appreciate you.
