Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Thank You Aaron & Jason Baer

Thank you Aaron & Jason Baer, owners of the New Moon Cafe.

The Salvation Army thanks them too.

Aaron and Jason allowed me to come in anytime during the Salvation Army bellringing season and play piano, substituting a 'tip jar' with the Salvation Army Red Kettle.

Bellringing is common outside or in the entryway of a business, but rarely is the person allowed inside the business to solicit donations.

This is great that we have small business owners that care enough about our community to do this. They are outstanding citizens and this provides a great reason to shop downtown Oshkosh.

Remember that every coin in those red kettles stays in Oshkosh.

Merry Christmas!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gary,

Any concern about the Salvation Army's outright discrimination and bigotry towards gay people? Stores like Target do not even allow their bell ringing due to their discrimination against gay people. I know they do a lot of good, and maybe we just have to accept their hostility towards some people in our population.

Gary said...

I share your concern and am well aware of the anti-gay sentiment which permeates the Salvation Army. I am also aware of at least one pending lawsuit against the S.A. -I think it is in New York City, where they fired openly gay employees. I have been educating people one at a time about gay issues and with the passing of time the S.A. will come to terms with this. It's just not gay, it is the whole range of different things...male equipment / female brain, vice-versa and more. We humans come with a dizzying array of variety and society is just now beginning to understand that. It may take several generations to cope with it and treat all humans as equals.

Thanks for your thoughts.