Local businesses participate in supporting Black Lives Matter cause in various ways

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One of Bloomington’s local coffee shops, Hopscotch Coffee, has recently been offering the option of donating to a certain cause through their digital tip jar when ordering online.

All donations are for the Black Lives Matter movement and will be going to support the Black community of Bloomington, Black causes and other organizations and events for BLM. 

According to BLM Bloomington, current donations will be going specifically towards the Dignity Bags Supply Drive and sending funds to protestors fighting for the lives of George Floyd, Dreasjon Reed, and Breyonna Taylor that were lost in recent months in the U.S.

Bloomington’s own Rainbow Bakery will be one of the thousands of Bakeries and Bakers advertising and supporting Bakers Against Racism next week. Bakers Against Racism is a movement that began when pastry chef at Emilie’s in Washington, D.C, Willa Pelini was compelled to show support to protestors and the cause as a whole without being exposed to the large crowds and continuing to work. 

The three chefs, Willa Pelini, Paola Velez of DC’s Kitch/Kin, and Rob Rubba of Scrappy’s Bagel Bar created a graphic and posted the idea on the web. The plan would be to offer 150 baked goods from all three establishments with a decent amount of the proceeds going towards the Black Lives Matter movement.

Once posted to the web, the plan was swept off according to Velez, with bakers not only from outside DC but also from France, Germany, Singapore, Turkey and more signing up to do the same.

The three bakers have set up a google drive folder named Bakers Against Racism to help keep funds organized. The file includes graphics for posting on social media, and suggested social media schedules for posting and keeping the public informed before and after the event.

The movement will begin on Monday, June 15 worldwide. Rainbow bakery posted on their Instagram page Wednesday in support of the movement and their hope to amplify it in any way possible to the local community.