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Hiawatha Collection Drive Exceeds Goal

By Brian Hagen

07/28/2014

Supporters visit during Sunday's “Double the Love, Divide the Hate” fundraiser. (Photo courtesy of Bryan Potter)

(KNZA)--Exceeding all expectations.

That's how organizer Stacy Babb describes the outcome of Sunday's “Double the Love, Divide the Hate” fundraiser held at Hiawatha's Daily Perk.

Devised as a way to counter a protest of Hiawatha churches, Babb says community support, including the donation of change to purchase LGBT themed books for the Morrill Public Library, was stronger than expected; and, because of the hundreds of dollars donated, plans to also make such books, and resources, available for other area libraries. “We ended up with close to $700. What we decided to do was create a list of books and movies and magazines that we'd like to have in libraries in northeast Kansas that could help kids and their families struggling with issues in their relationships. It's going to be in the name of Nicholas Ploeger, so it's going to be the Nicholas Ploeger Memorial Collection. He was the first openly gay student in Troy. His mother was so proud of him for being so brave, but of course she was afraid for him. He wanted to make sure that he set an example for kids that came after him, so that's why we decided to put it in his name.”

Babb says the donation drive also collected around 150 items for use by the Hiawatha based food pantry, and will be distributed to community members in need of food assistance.

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