Occupy Wall Street Has $300,000 in the Bank
Happily staying put at Zuccotti Park (and cleaning it themselves) for now, the fledgling Occupy Wall Street protest organization is also seeing its cash reserves grow. According to a Sunday night article by the Associated Press, "nearly $300,000 in cash has been donated through the movement's website and by visitors to the park, said Bill Dobbs, a press liaison for Occupy Wall Street." On Friday, when The New York Observer looked at the finances of the loose organization it found that "the protest's general fund has raised approximately $250,000, according to members of the finance committee." The New York Post pegged the number at "a $230,000 war chest and a warehouse full of supplies."
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Whatever the exact number, donations have been arriving at what seems like a brisk pace for the organization, the Associated Press reports, including some practical appliances for civil disobedience:
Donated goods ranging from blankets and sleeping bags to cans of food and medical and hygienic supplies are being stored in a cavernous space donated by the United Federation of Teachers, which has offices in the building a block from Wall Street near the private park protesters occupy. Among the items are 20 pairs of swimming goggles (to shield protesters from pepper-spray attacks).
The Observer also wrote that a certain water-jug passed around at Zuccotti Park has been relatively lucrative for the organization: "About $1,000 in cash comes in every day through the empty five-gallon water jug at the ersatz cafeteria in the middle of the plaza and three duct-taped paint buckets stationed at the information booths."
