Tech giant Google announced Wednesday it has donated $1.5 million to the Salvation Army, to assist in the charity’s efforts to fight homelessness in San Francisco and San Jose.
“Google.org is committed to continuing our support for organizations like the Salvation Army to help find solutions to homelessness,” said Adrian Schurr, Bay Area program manager for Google.org, the company’s charitable arm, according to CBS SF.
The donation from Google was divided between the Salvation Army’s Silicon Valley Community Center in San Jose and its Harbor Light Center in San Francisco.
In a statement about the donation on the Salvation Army Silicon Valley website, San José Councilmember Raul Peralez said:
As the City of San José looks to provide solutions to this unprecedented housing crisis, it is great to know that organizations such as The Salvation Army and Google are working together to help us. In times like these it will take everyone to recognize their responsibility and work collaboratively in order to end homelessness.
Restaurant chain Chick-fil-A, however, has been condemned by progressives for its donations to the Salvation Army and other Christian organizations. The left claims the Salvation Army is anti-LGBT and, subsequently, Chick-fil-A, whose founder is a devout Christian, has been barred from college campuses, airports, and other venues, because of its donations to Christian organizations.
In May, the student government at Trinity University, a private, Presbyterian liberal arts college in Texas, voted unanimously to ban Chick-fil-A from its campus.
CBN News reported students adopted a resolution listing Chick-fil-A’s donations to organizations that they claimed dismissed the rights of LGBT individuals.
According to the resolution, students noted:
Chick-fil-a donated 1.8 million dollars to anti-LGBT+ organizations in 2017, such as the Paul Anderson Youth Home, the Salvation Army, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, according to their most recent available tax return.
“Trinity is a university that emphasizes its commitment to diversity and inclusion,” the resolution said. “Having Chick-fil-a in the rotation at Revolve conflicts with those values. Trinity’s values of diversity and inclusion and Chick-fil-a’s values regarding the LGBT+ community are mutually exclusive.”
In 2012, Fred Sainz, LGBT lobbying group the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president of communications, said his organization is “sending a loud and clear message to Chick-fil-A: we will not rest until your consumers know that you take their money and hand it over to groups that actively work to demonize LGBT people.”
In July, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a measure dubbed the “Chick-fil-A bill,” prohibiting local governments from retaliating against an individual or business for their membership in, or support for, faith-based groups.
The legislation was introduced after the San Antonio City Council voted to block Chick-fil-A from participating as a vendor at the San Antonio International Airport because of its Christian beliefs.
“Discrimination is not tolerated in Texas,” said the Republican governor. “No business should be discriminated against simply because its owners gave to a church or the Salvation Army or to any other religious organization. No business should lose a government contract because of their religious beliefs.”
Previously, Roberto Treviño, San Antonio District 1 city councilman, moved to ban the privately held, family-owned business from its list of airport vendors. Six council members approved the motion to ban the restaurant, while four voted against it.
“With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion,” Treviño said, according to NBC News 4. “San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior.”
Chick-fil-A had also been banned from the airport in Buffalo, New York.
On its website, Chick-fil-A states the company continues to uphold the biblical principles that guided the founding of its business by S. Truett Cathy, and that it has provided financial support to Christian youth organizations and charitable groups, such as the Salvation Army.
Chick-fil-A continues:
While some have questioned the motives behind our donations, we want to take a moment to reiterate the mission and focus of the Chick-fil-A Foundation, which has always been and always will be to donate to programs that support a diverse array of youth and educational programs nationwide. The 140,000 people who serve customers on a daily basis represent and embrace all people, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.
As Breitbart News reported earlier in August, results of customer satisfaction company Market Force’s annual survey of “America’s favorite” fast food chains revealed Chick-fil-A received top billing.
Additionally, in 2018, Chick-fil-A was presented with a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award for being among the top 100 best places to work. The restaurant chain was also included in Glassdoor’s Top 100 CEOs.
Chick-fil-A was recognized again in 2018 for customer experience in the Temkin Experience Ratings survey and then named “Best Franchise Brand” by Airport Revenue News. The company was included as well last year in Forbes’ list of best employers and as a National Society of High School Scholars top employer.
The Salvation Army created a website page that states it is “committed to serving the LGBTQ community” by providing food and shelter, job training, substance abuse counseling, and other assistance.
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