Story Archive

When Life Gives You Lemons

Jayden Sink set up a lemonade stand in Topeka, Kan., to raise money for charity. She had seen the “Equality House” there, says her father, Jon. “She saw pictures of it and thought it was the most beautiful house in the world,” he said, and the organization which owns the rainbow-flag-painted house said sure: she could set up her stand on its lawn. That presented the organization across the street, the Westboro Baptist Church, “a great preaching opportunity,” said Jonathan Phelps, son of WBC founder Fred Phelps Sr. “Because every time you tell the story about the lemonade,” he continued, “you have to tell about the eternal hatred and wrath of God towards the impenitent sinner, and the popular sin of the day is the sin of sodomy.” Jayden was attracting a crowd so Church members harassed her to get her to leave, but she wouldn’t budge from her goal to raise $500 for her charity. “She was right in front of this hate group,” said a neighbor who witnessed the harassment. “She was unfazed and unafraid, and they are so very vile and rude to people.” Jayden, who is 5 years old, is not promoting sodomy. Rather, she is raising money to educate children about bullying. So far, she has raised more than $22,000. (RC/KCTV Kansas City) ...She’ll unfortunately need a lot more than that to educate WBC members about bullying.