Pizza-grams

Standing out in the cold on Monday morning, my toes were freezing, my fingers numb and I was desperately wishing that Governor Scott Walker had released this bill in July. As I was pacing back and forth trying to keep the blood flowing in my feet, one of teachers picketing announced that they had pizza provided by teachers from L.A. Over the next few minutes, I looked around and saw pizza delivery drivers from numerous restaurant bringing hundreds of pizza to thousands of protesters. The food came from all over the country and even the world. Websites were set up for people to donate food through local restaurants. We refer to this as pizza-grams. One of the local restaurants has maintained a list of all states and counties that have donated. As of Feb. 22 these people in these countries have donated: Morocco, France, Antarctica, Czech Republic, South Korea, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Poland, Mexico, Singapore, Costa Rica, Armenia, Nicaragua, Israel, Hong Kong, Haiti and Iceland. Plus all 50 states and D.C. and Puerto Rico. This was just the donations through Ian's Pizza. That restaurant suspended dine-in and delivery service just to handle donated food.

And it is not just pizza. One cold icy day the Subway workers chipped their money in to buy food for the protesters. Local coffee shops have donated coffee to keep the protesters warm. I am aware of at least four different businesses that are giving coffee to the protesters. Other people are giving bottled water and warm clothing.

People across the world support what we are doing and something as simply as ensuring that we feed makes a differences. Our spirits are lifted as we have warm food and coffee. Not just due to the food, but the knowledge that people are giving what they can to help us, gives us a moral boost. People may not be able to be there on the street or in the Capitol with us, but they are giving us support to continue our movement.