Tghis stand got burglarized this morning before they opened. The West Seattle Rainbow Girls are selling fireworks from their stand at 16th Ave. SW at 100th St., across the street from Chase Bank, to raise money for their organization. They will be out there through July 4. Pictured L-R: Kala Broxey at the register. Sara Swenson behind the counter. Flo Lyons in the Uncle Sam suit and her sister Emma next to her.
UPDATE:
The West Seattle Rainbow Girls are selling fireworks from their booth at 16th Ave. SW at 100th St.
Fireworks stand, West Seattle Rainbow girls burglarized.
Janet Boyer, a Highland Park resident whose daughter Darian, 14, belongs to the West Seattle Rainbow girls tells the West Seattle Herald what happened:
"I'm here at the stand setting up to sell today because it's 4th of July. But between 4:30am and 5:00am we were burglarized. Somebody ripped the door off of the side of our stand. Took almost $1000 of fireworks, broke our credit card machine and took our cash register. It contained our inventory information but there was no cash in the register. We can't take credit cards but we can take cash.
We've operated this stand for about five years. We can manage today without the cash register. This booth benefits our girls and the Rainbow teaches girls leadership and we give back to the community. Our charity is Northwest Harvest and local food banks. Our fireworks stand raises money to give back to the community.
"The West Seattle Rainbow Assembly eats the cost of that. I urge people to stop by the stand and buy, and perhaps give a bit extra.
You can donate at www.gorainbow.org at our West Seattle Rainbow site.
They also have a second stand in Normandy Park, on 1st Ave. S. at the QFC.
5:15 pm UPDATE:
"We haven't had any big donations, a lot of people told us to keep the change," said one of the adults on the board, Kim Riley who also reported that sales have been "pretty steady."
Reacting to the theft Darien Boyer said, "It was terrible and we're putting so much work into this and we're so disappointed that someone would steal from us." She and and Zoe Garoutte worked the booth.
The West Seattle Rainbow Girls are selling fireworks from their booth at 16th Ave. SW at 100th St. to raise money for their organization. They will be there through July 4, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The Rainbow Girls under 16 years old can stand in front to direct customers, but cannot work the stand. Several of the girls went on a safety tour sponsored by the TNT company that supplies the fireworks in order to qualify to operate the stand.
The International Order of Rainbow Girls began in 1922, then created for Masonic daughters and their friends, but today any girl ages 11-20 who is interested in joining Rainbow Girls is welcome. It is nondenominational.
