Some say bad things happen in Philadelphia, but Holmesburg resident Cheryl Molle wants to highlight the good things that happen in the City of Brotherly Love, too.
The quote from President Donald Trump came at the Sept. 29 presidential debate when he claimed poll watchers were being thrown out of polling places in the city. When Molle watched the debate she knew the city would embrace the attack, and by 2 a.m. that morning already had a few T-shirts bearing the quote designed and available for purchase.
She wasn’t just cashing in on the trend for personal gain.
“If I reach my goal [of 1,200 items sold] I’m going to donate to three causes: voter rights, the environment and Planned Parenthood,” she said.
Molle is no stranger to crowdsourcing money for good causes, creating the Philly Restaurant Server Relief Fund toward the beginning of the pandemic and kickstarting a regular pop-up beer garden at the Insectarium to raise funds to invest in the neighborhood.
If she meets the sales goal, she plans to donate her entire next stimulus check (assuming there is one) to Planned Parenthood, or one dollar per shirt sold. Regardless of meeting the goal or not, money from the sales is going toward the two other causes.
“It was such a ridiculous thing for him to say, and we already get such a bad reputation around the country in so many ways,” Molle said.
By designing a shirt that says the inverse, ‘Good Things Happen in Philadelphia,’ she hopes to twist the message into a positive.
At the time of the debate, Trump’s campaign had no certified poll watchers in the city, and no poll sites were open. He was referring to satellite election offices, which are used for voters to request and submit mail-in ballots.
In Northeast Philadelphia, satellite election offices can be found at Harding Middle School, J. Hampton Moore School and George Washington High School.
The T-shirts, hoodies and other clothing items can be found here.
