HAMBURG, N.Y. (WBEN) – The owners of a Hamburg photography studio whose LGBTQ pride flags were stolen and found in a nearby park were honored on Thursday with a proclamation by Assemblyman Sean Ryan.
Katya Kroll-Haeick and her wife, Deanna, had their pride flags stolen last month from DeaLea Photography.
The flags were found burned across the street.
But rather than dwell on the crime that was committed, the two used the incident as an opportunity for a teachable moment.
"We're not going to sugarcoat an incident like this," Katya said.
"We immediately jumped online and ordered 150 flags. Someone else sent us another 150. Someone else sent us another 100. We initially thought we would deliver them to our friends and family in the Village of Hamburg."
Thanks to reporting on the internet, the incident went viral.
"We had a three-page excel spreadsheet of addresses we needed to hit from Eden to Amherst to West Seneca to Lackawanna and everywhere in Western New York," she added. "We just wanted to show that one act of hatred and one act like this was not going to be what the Village of Hambrug and Western New York is. It's not going to define us as a community."
They've since sent out more than 500 pride flags to the community.
There have been no arrests announced since the incident happened last month.
