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Chobani founder announces $20,000 donation to Anne Frank Memorial

Hamdi Ulukaya wants the money to be used to help clean away hate from the memorial. He said let's all be the light this Hanukkah and stand with Boise against hatred.

BOISE, Idaho — Editor's Note: The video with this story is about the history of the Anne Frank Memorial and the impetus behind building it in Boise.

Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder and CEO of Chobani, posted on his LinkedIn account page Thursday that the yogurt-maker is donating $20,000 to the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights to help clean away hate from the Anne Frank Memorial.

The human rights memorial in Boise was vandalized on Monday with nine stickers of swastikas that were placed throughout the memorial.

There has been a lot of public outcry since the incident that Boise Police say occurred sometime between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Police are continuing to investigate and seek out the culprits.

Signs placed on the memorial read "We are everywhere." The stickers and signs were promptly removed.

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean joined with other local leaders Thursday to condemn the placement of the Nazi hate symbols at the memorial. 

"I want to make this incredibly clear: The vandalism at the Anne Frank Memorial is reprehensible," McLean said. "It is an affront to all that  we are, the values we hold dear, to the memories of so many people in this community and this country who fought against that very topic, and of course, and of course to the people in this community who it targets."

In his post Ulukaya wrote as Anne Frank teaches us "how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." He urged people to be the Light this Hanukkah and stand with Boise against hatred.


as Anne Frank teaches us.."how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." on this #HumanRightsDay, Chobani... 12 comments on LinkedIn

The memorial honors the memory, legacy, and wisdom found within the diary of holocaust victim Anne Frank. Frank penned a diary while in hiding from Nazi persecution as Jewish people across Europe were targeted and executed in concentration camps.

The Boise site is the only Anne Frank memorial in the United States, it serves as an educational park designed to engage visitors to think, to talk with one another, and to respond to human rights issues.

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