Philip Workman was executed by lethal injection at 1am Wednesday night. His request for his last meal was that a pizza be given to a homeless person near the prison. That request was not honored by the prison officials who claimed they don’t do that sort of thing.
A day later though, his request was honored by many others, and many of those without homes in Nashville ate delicious pizza, inspired by a man whose last request was a benevolent act be done on his behalf.
From CNN:
Donna Spangler heard about Workman’s request and immediately called her friends. They all pitched in for the $1,200 bill to buy 150 pizzas, which they sent to the Rescue Mission.
“Philip Workman was trying to do a good deed and no one would help him,” said the 55-year-old who recruited a co-worker to help her make the massive delivery Wednesday evening.
“I knew my husband would have a heart attack — I put some of it on the credit card. But I thought we’ll find a way to pay for them later,” she said. “I just felt like I had to do something positive.”
Spangler wasn’t the only person to place an order in Workman’s name.
The president of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals read a news story about the prison denying the inmate’s last request and ordered 15 veggie pizzas sent to the Rescue Mission Wednesday morning.
“Workman’s act was selfless, and kindness to all living beings is a virtue,” said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk.
Not far away, 17 pizzas arrived at Nashville’s Oasis Center, a shelter that helps about 260 teenagers in crisis. By 9 p.m. ET, more pizzas had arrived, said executive director Hal Cato.
“We talked to the kids and they understand what this is tied to and they know that this man [Workman] wanted to do something to point out the problems of homelessness.”
When Workman robbed a Wendy’s in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1981, he was a strung-out cocaine addict looking for a way to pay for his next high, he has said.
He was homeless at the time. Workman was convicted of s
Here’s to you Philip Workman, may my last request be half as noble.
i was very excited to see that article this morning.
Wow. I’m saddened to hear he was indeed put to death. 🙁
But his last request is very inspiring and humbling. It’s great to see so many people acted on his behalf and fed the hungry. Amazing…
Thanks for sharing this, Ariah.
Peace,
Jamie
Yeah, I was inspired and encouraged.
I wish someday things will change and we’ll see the death penalty as ridiculous and inhumane. But that day is still a ways off.
Closer and closer each day, though, my brother. I truly believe that. 🙂
Peace,
Jamie
Inspired by the generosity of Tennesse, We have already collected $1020 to kick off non-profit eyeBLINK.org’s (www.eyeblink.org)campaign to get people to donate pizzas for the homeless. I urge
people to donate anything that they can afford, whether it’s $1, $5, $10 or more.
!!Every penny of donations will be spent to buy pizzas for various homeless shelters and food pantries around NYC. We will list the homeless shelters, the number of pizza pies that we bought and the number of people that you helped feed on http://www.eyeblink.org. We will collect donations for a week through Friday, May 18th!!
The Nashville event just hit the news today, so it’s a great chance to ride the kindness wave, do good for those who have nothing, get great karma and really showcase the good in humans. You can send donations through paypal to email address
info@eyeblinkentertainment.com. Or send checks to eyeBLINK, 350 west 43rd street, apt. 32G, NYC 10036.
The larger the amount of pizza that we can buy, the more likely it is that the momentum will build for even more donations. If you think this idea is worthy, please contribute and also, pass on this email to 5 friends. Also, all donations are tax-deductible.
If you have any connections in the media, please inform them. For questions, please email info@eyeblink.org
eyeBLINK is a non-profit that creates special events as well as regularly scheduled multicultural theater and dance events.
Thank you all for your time, and your dollar. Just one dollar?.
Click here to send your dollar(s): https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=cK3E-M1zgd66skT8wkIJp60xS9p6OiUCKr9hiTMZMWgMgErdvtDeSLwGbiTnnzXZSxBMD0&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f5d4b97d3a3c439adc3a1c4c367b71d5220caffaed5cfdf99
Obaid Kadwani
GM – eyeBLINK
http://www.eyeblink.org
P.S. Don’t forget to pass email on to 5 friends!
Sorry to be the party-pooper here, but this was a murderer, indeed a cop-killer, that you are all so effusively praising. Whether putting him to death was right or wrong, the fact that he requested a pizza be given to a homeless person ought not suddenly make him a candidate for canonization, right? I believe his claim in fighting his sentence was not that he was not involved in the robbery, or that he did not fire a weapon, but only that it was not his weapon that directly killed the police officer.
i don’t think anyone here would say that if this guy really did kill someone (i am not from TN so i haven’t followed the whole story and trial) that it was ok or right or excusable. i for one am just saddened by capital punishment in general. i don’t believe that killing someone is right… i don’t think it is what Jesus would want us to do. i don’t think that anyone’s life is more important than another’s… as for the pizza thing– it touched me on a human level that a person who was facing death would think of others. it also touched me that so many people went out of their ways to make that happen. i do think Jesus would want us to feed the hungry and take care of the poor.
The fact that the homeless ate pizza is great.
What bugs me is that no one here bothered to note that the man Worknan killed, or acted in concert to kill, will neither eat, nor donate pizza ever again. I fail to see how a killer’s cynical gesture for show that resulted in the giving of pizza should overshadow the fact that he TOOK the life of a public servant, husband, father, son.
Seriously, it takes a murderer asking that a pizza be given to the hungry to get people motivated anew to help the hungry?
For real, people! I read here of people wringing their hands excruciatingly over whether to buy Coca-Cola or a store brand, whether to run the heat in the winter is an immoral indulgence, from whom to buy their chocolate and coffee, but what good does such dithering do anyone on a large scale? Could you slap yourselves on the back over nothing any more? Now you are praising murderers, because, you know, he may have killed a guy, but hey, at least he wanted to give a homeless guy a pizza – my hero!
Come. On.
actually i did say that killing people is wrong and bad, that people shouldn’t kill each other. killing is killing, whether it is a cop or a criminal. when someone loses someone they love, it is always absolutely tragic. i have lost a few people to death so i know it is painful. like i said before, i don’t know the whole story so i can’t make a whole lot of judgement calls. i am horrified that the cop died, i hurt for his family… but i also hurt for workman’s family. two men with families are dead in this situation.
my heroes in this life are Jesus, my parents, and my husband. i don’t know that i’d say workman is on the same level as them. but i do stand by what i said– someone who thinks of others on their deathbed has done something good. it is possible for humans to do both great good and great evil. that’s the big picture for me, anyway. we are all entitled to our own opinions. 🙂
Yes we are praising a man who was on deathrow for killing someone,but not for him being on deathrow. He was humble enough to see that what he wanted to do….mind you on his deathbed, was to feed someone homeless instead of having a last meal himself. No one here is overlooking the fact of why he was in prison (I used to work for the police department, thank you) it is because he was there, or pulled the trigger, and so forth…but he was in jail, and sentenced to die for his crime. I do not agree with anyone killing anyone….and I do feel sad for the policemans family…yes he may never eat pizza or feed homeless again and for this I am saddened. Because of my background I hate to hear of anyone being killed for any reason what so ever…be it a public serviceman, someone in prison being put to death, or killing on the street.
Now I am going to say this last part in the nicest way possible….I think you are not being very openminded…this is a blog about a man who was humbled in his last moments on earth. There are other blogs on here about what soda to drink, when to run the heat and so forth, but the people blogging here and the people responding are openminded enough to see these blogs are that just blogs….thoughts of the writer,emotions they felt, things they are passionate about. You never know what the “small” things might bring, but you should be more openminded to accept that this is a blog about a man who was humbled in his last moments to want to serve someone else. And thats that.
Ash – I should have prefaced my last remark by being clear that I saw that at least you did memoan the murdering and all. The comment was directed to the other posts prior to yours.
As for Workman, he deserved death and Hell just like the rest of us do, whether he spent all his days murdering or donating pizzas. My point is not to wail on him, either. I for one AM sure that he is not on the level with your hero, Jesus, just as none of the rest of us are.
My point is that people of faith who ache for a lost, dying, and hungry world ought to spend less time worrying about what soda or coffee to drink, or whether to put on a (“fair trade” wool) sweater or turn up the heat, and saying things like “heres to you” to pizza donating murderers, and more time doing things with a little more substance to help alleviate or solve the problems they lament.
A-
With all due respect, there is nothing of a more greater “substance” than LOVE.
WE are doing our best to live this out with not only our words, but with our lifestyles as well. This is what Jesus modeled for us when He walked the earth, and I believe with every fiber of my being that the people you are condemning here are giving this “life of love” their best shot, especially in the *smaller* things. Because they are indeed important. 🙂
“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”
– Mother Teresa
Peace,
Jamie
Why would you say that I am condemning anyone?
I have not used the language of condemnation. I am using the language of frustration and criticism, and I have also intended exhortation.
Is anyone here or anywhere else above criticism and exhortation just because they are “giving it their best shot”?
Above criticism or exhortation?? Not at all. 🙂 I could definately use a daily dose of both.
I think that’s what we’re all here for…seeking accountability and encouragement, sharing ideas and gleaning wisdom from each other, to help us all live in better, more life-sustaining and loving manners.
I apologize if I mis-spoke and “condemnation” was not your intention. You just seemed to be very judgemental in speaking out against the lifestyle choices we are making here. You made it sound as if these choices were not “enough” or not worthy of our time. I just want to implore you to look further into these “alternative” lifestyle choices and become aware of the impact they are indeed making on the world around us.
I also get the feeling you think we are all a bunch of idealists, sitting around day dreaming while eating fair-trade chocolates …doing absolutely nothing to actively change the world in our immediate vicinities. And for someone to make that kind of declaration about *anybody* without knowing them first hand seems a bit harsh.
I just want you to understand that it is a LIFESTYLE for most of us here, and not something to be taken lightly or be judged as ineffective. A life lived in love is a very powerful thing.
Honestly, maybe I read much more into your post than what was there. It happens! 😉 If that’s the case, I am truly sorry. I do hear your frustration and appreciate what’s at the heart of what you’re saying. Truly. I just felt you were condemning us out of frustration…and I just felt like I needed to say something.
Hope you’ll stick around and join us here. I’m sure you and I particularly could learn alot from each other. 🙂
Peace,
Jamie
I did not mean to be harsh, and apologize for the fact that some of my choices of language did indeed seem harsh.
Forget the fair trade chocolates and buddy soda comments for now.
As to the Workman praise, a question to think about: Would Hitler get a “here’s to you” in this space if his last act before death were to ask that a pizza be given to a homeless person?
hehe Quite possibly. 🙂
In all seriousness, though, that action would show quite a change of heart on his part, now wouldn’t it?? And that’s what repentance is all about, a “turning away” from a life of sin and a “turning toward” God.
Putting the needs of others before the needs of oneself is sometimes the very first step in that direction. And I think that’s a very beautiful thing, regardless of *what* kind of sinner it’s coming from. Because when it comes right down to it, we are all dirty sinners, in desperate need of God’s redeeming love and grace.
Peace,
Jamie
Bad people can do good things, of course – that does not necessarily make it worth one’s while to go out of the way to give them kudo’s for it.
I’m calling dead horse on this one.
a and Jamie and others,
Sorry I didn’t chime in, I told Aaron his thoughts were something I need to reflect on a bit, and as I did the comment section grew and died.
Two things I wanted to mention. First, a’s initial comments are what compelled me to ask for ‘guest writers’ for next week. I think you wrote a couple quick critiquing sentences, and I really truly want to hear more and have you elaborate on them. I’ve thought about it a bit and want to listen more.
Secondly, the conversation has inspired a couple of posts, so if I don’t have many guest writers next week you can expect some posts directly inspired by Aaron’s comments.
I don’t read your blog as frequently as I should and I missed this when you posted it, but when you referred to it in a more recent blog, I had to go look it up. I know Dona Spangler, the lady who organized the purchase of the pizzas for the Nashville Rescue Mission and is mentioned in the article. She did this because she was so sad that the government would be so heartless as to refuse his last request. And also, let me say that though she did not regret doing it, she had no idea that this endeavor would end up costing her and her friend $1200. (They made it sound like a group in the article, but really it was just the 2 of them, although I think some people have since given them some money for it.) The fact is that she didn’t care what it took, she was willing to do it in order to give this guy a last redeeming act. Whether Workman was a murderer or not, this was a very loving thing to do and God can use it. Dona has faced a lot of negative attention since this…death threats even. Just for trying to show a little love. Sad.
Here’s to Dona Spangler. Now that is someone whose actions are worthy of kudos. How stupid of anyone to be upset with her for doing this.