Will UpRising Cafe Close?: Bakery Owner Decides Next Steps

LAKE IN THE HILLS, IL — Corinna Bendel Sac, a local mother to two young children and business owner, says she's not sure if the $30,000 raised in less than a week will be enough to convince her to keep the doors of UpRising Bakery and Cafe open.

Sac says she, her family as well as employees and customers at her business have become the target of harassment — both online and in-person — and she doesn't understand why the drag shows planned at UpRising— which are also held at other local restaurants — have drawn so much criticism, backlash and hate.

The cafe, months after opening in November 2021, briefly closed when a 24-year-old Alsip man, Joseph I. Collins, smashed windows at the business and spray-painted "hateful messages," according to authorities.

The vandalism on July 24 was in response to a family-friendly drag show, which had been planned for that day.

Collins used a baseball bat to break a glass door at the bakery and cafe, and spray-painted "groomers" on the side of the building, as well as “Christ is King” and another homophobic slur.

The business has gone on to host family-friendly drag shows since then, and has drawn criticism from local Proud Boys and other critics. The shop has been vandalized, staff and customers have been harassed and Sac has been threatened.

The harassment has continued, mainly online in recent weeks, said Sac, who was born and raised in McHenry County, where she continues to live with her husband and their children, who are 8 and 10 years old. Recently, her tax documents have been posted online and others have slammed her regarding her children receiving free lunches at school through a state program, which is based on income.

"This has all become increasingly worrisome for us," Sac said. "My kids are not OK with it, they are extremely anxious, they are very scared at home, and it's very stressful for my whole family."

That combined with struggling to keep her business afloat and pay thousand in state taxes led to her announcement this past week to close. She originally set a March 31 closing date.

What she did not expect was for more than $35,000 to be raised for her business through an online fundraising campaign she did not set up or help to organize.

David Goldenberg, an attorney with the Anti-Defamation League, headed the campaign and posted the GoFundMe after learning of the business's struggles and the decision to close.

"People will lose their jobs and those of us who believe in tolerance and love will lose a safe space. We cannot allow the haters to win," Goldenberg wrote in the GoFundMe. As of Thursday, more than $36,000 has been raised.

But Sac says she's unsure if the funds will be enough for her to stay in business.

"We were very resolute in our decision to close," said Sac, adding that she's now in discussions with her team whether to try and stay open. "It means a lot to us that the community did stand up for us and for the fundraiser. Especially considering everything that's been happening here, so, that has been amazing. But we just don't know if we can make it work."

She said she plans to decide in coming days if she will accept the GoFundMe funds in order to keep her cafe, located at 2104 W. Algonquin Road, open.

"We don't know what we are going to do, yet we are discussing that as a team over the next two days together, and we will make a collective decision," she said Thursday.

She said the harassment has contributed to a drop in business as people do not want to stop out to her bakery, which she started in part to offer delicious treats — she'd been baking out of her home and then a commissary kitchen — and in part to offer a community gathering place that hosted events, including the drag shows.

"I've lived here my whole life and I have never seen so much racism and bigotry, and I have never experienced anything like this until this last year," Sac said Thursday. "It's putting us out of business, and it's affecting people's livelihoods."