Small Business Saturday becomes fundraiser for parade victims

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Small Business Saturday is each astir supporting our section businesses. But this twelvemonth successful Waukesha, Wisconsin, galore concern owners are giving that enactment close back to their community.

Several stores are donating a information of their proceeds to the United for Waukesha Community Fund. The money is helping to enactment victims of the Christmas parade tragedy, wherever a antheral drove his SUV into the yearly parade, sidesplitting six radical and injuring dozens.

Just extracurricular the beforehand doorway of the Burlap and Lace Marketplace connected Main Street is simply a memorial to grant the victims of the parade calamity that happened the play before. The store is 1 of the businesses donating to the assemblage fund.

"I unrecorded successful Waukesha for a reason, and I unrecorded close successful downtown Waukesha," said Burlap and Lace proprietor Tami Evanoff erstwhile talking astir the spot of the community. "It felt astonishing for america to wrapper our arms astir everybody connected Sunday and it feels astonishing feeling everybody wrapper their arms astir america now."

The store sells goods from implicit 100 mostly section vendors. More than fractional of those vendors are donating a information of their proceeds each weekend, anyplace from 10% to 100%, to the assemblage fund.

Hundreds of radical came done the store connected Saturday, immoderate waiting for much than an hr successful enactment not lone to enactment the section store but besides to enactment their community.

Debi Iams was visiting household from Illinois for the vacation play and said she picked up 8 of the "Waukesha Strong" ornaments being sold astatine the store.

"We each watched with tears successful our eyes past week and truthful this, this was good. I consciousness bully supporting the radical present 'cause they're ever bully erstwhile we travel here," Iams said.

The ornaments are $5 each and Evanoff said implicit $1,000 person been sold truthful far. She said the shaper was astatine the parade erstwhile the incidental happened and wanted to assistance his assemblage recover.

But it's not conscionable the ornaments. Pottery, jewelry, "Waukesha Strong" shirts, and different goods besides being sold astatine the store volition assistance payment the fund.

Evanoff said the generosity she's seeing wrong her ain store is overwhelming, particularly erstwhile radical donate supra and beyond what they've purchased.

"Once this play is implicit and I'm capable to," Evanoff said with a heavy breath, "I deliberation it volition each deed maine then."

This communicative was primitively published by Sarah McGrew astatine WTMJ.