MERIDIAN, Idaho — The Krispy Kreme in Meridian gave away free donuts, coffee, milk, and strawberry slushies Wednesday evening.
The popular donut shop only asked that folks bring along a donation for a good cause. And the community responded - raising more than $28,000.
The money will go to help three young girls who survived a violent attack that left three people dead.
On January 6, a man broke into a Meridian home and shot and killed Jose and Heidi DeLeon in front of three children.Two of the girls were Heidi's from a previous marriage to Edward Epps Jr., the suspect in the shooting who police say took his own life after shooting the DeLeons. The third girl was Jose Deleon's daughter from a previous marriage.
Krispy Kreme District Manager Mike Fortier says his staff wanted to help the girls, so they came up with this benefit.
“Nobody needs to go through something like this and anything we can do as a company, in this community, were just really glad to help and were happy our ownership group has allowed us to do this,” Fortier said.
Within the 10 minutes, Krispy Kreme staff said $1,000 had already been raised. By the end of the night, they raised more than $28,000.