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A California coffee shop owner said her business was “flooded with righteous people” after coming under fire for supporting Charlie Kirk.
Following the assassination of the Turning Point USA founder, Invita Café in Rancho Santa Fe placed stickers on its coffee cups in his honor.
Owner Sara De Luca told Fox News Digital she “didn’t think twice” about putting the stickers on the cups beginning the Friday after Kirk’s death.
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“When Israel went to war, we put on Israel stickers and started to support some of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]. I would say that was when I was like, ‘Let’s be courageous,'” De Luca said. “But with Charlie, we had hosted him. We had met him. We’ve met Erika,” she added, referring to Kirk’s wife.
DeLuca said she didn’t even think it “could be controversial.”
“Maybe it’s my ignorance,” she said. “It didn’t even cross my mind that somebody could have some sort of issue with somebody being murdered.”
Invita Café’s decision to honor Charlie Kirk sparked controversy before generating overwhelming community backing. (Juliann Ford)
De Luca printed round white stickers with the words “Thank you, Charlie Kirk” and “We Love You” written on them.
“We’ve supported him for many, many years,” she said — but baristas told her the café’s phones were ringing off the hook with people saying “horrible and horrific things.”
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“We ended up having to shut down our Google page and Yelp page because we were getting an insane amount of one-star reviews,” De Luca said.
She said what kept her calm was her San Diego community and her church, Awaken, which “showed up” a few days later.
Coffee shop owner Sarah De Luca told Fox News Digital she’s supported Charlie Kirk for “many, many years.” (Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images; Sara De Luca)
“I was actually tearing [up] because I was like, ‘Where did these people come from?’ We went 312% up in sales,” De Luca said. “We were flooded with righteous people just showing up, supporting us, defending us. They were defending Charlie. Obviously, we all were.”
DeLuca said her small boutique coffee shop was soon packed with people waiting 30 to 45 minutes in line.
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“We didn’t have any haters show up,” she said. “It was only the righteous showing up – just God-fearing people who are like, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing. Charlie would be proud.'”
The support came not just from her community but from across the nation, she said.
“We didn’t have any haters show up. It was only the righteous showing up,” said De Luca about the traffic in her shop. (Sara De Luca)
“We had somebody from Georgia call and say, ‘Can I just give you $500 and buy the next 100 drinks?’ Somebody walked in and left $300 and just walked out.”
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Invita Café opened nine years ago, inspired by De Luca’s Italian family.
“The idea was to kind of create a space where the espresso is the magnet that unites people, and it brings the community together and brings the traditions that I grew up with here to California,” she said.
Invita Café, inspired by De Luca’s Italian family, is about bringing the community and traditions together, she said. (Sara De Luca)
De Luca said she believes “God is so behind all of this.”
“This is insane. But I think Charlie would have been proud.”
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The café still has stickers available and even hosted Turning Point USA for a pop-up.
