Online campaign to help Youngstown soup kitchen raises $12K

Online campaign to help Youngstown soup kitchen raises $12K

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An online fundraising campaign started Saturday raised more than $12,000 in less than 30 hours for the Mahoning County St. Vincent de Paul Society.

The effort, started by users of Fark, an online news aggregator, quickly pulled together the effort on indiegogo.com in a show of defense to combat the backlash facing the society and its president, Brian J. Antal.

Antal faced criticism late last week from some donors who threatened to stop making contributions to the soup kitchen because of the way he responded to a visit from Republican vice-presidential-nominee Paul Ryan, whom Antal said “ramrodded” his way into the kitchen without permission for an impromptu photo opportunity.

Those wishing to donate in the campaign can go to indiegogo.com/projects.