Getting dumped right before your wedding is probably one of the worst things that can happen to someone, ever. For all my cynicism, getting left at the altar or dumped right before a wedding is one of my biggest fears. There’s two ways to respond to this: You can either try to turn this negative into a positive and walk away from it a better person, or try to find a way to shove it right up your ex’s ass. This guy found a way to do both.

When Pittsburgh entrepreneur Phil Laboon’s August 31 wedding was called off by his fiancée, he decided to make the best of a terrible situation. Laboon turned his wedding reception into a charity event (appropriately named “LemonAID”) that will benefit Surgicorps International, an organization that provides free surgical and medical care to disadvantaged individuals in developing countries.

Laboon, a Pittsburgh native, prepaid the wedding expenses, which ran him somewhere in the neighborhood $20,000 for the reception. When he and his fiancée called it quits, Laboon was heartbroken, but didn’t want to call off the event. “I decided instead of just letting it go to waste at the last minute…we just tried to come up with an idea real quick,” said Laboon. “It’s a pretty last-minute, crazy thing,” he said to TribLive.

While losing his fiancée was a blow, he kept a pretty positive attitude: “You know — lemons and lemonade.”

Laboon is selling tickets to the event for $75 apiece which, by the way, I’d much rather have ticket revenue than holy matrimony, and will still have food, music and alcohol, but all proceeds will be going to Surgicorps.

Word of LemonAID spread quickly on social media, causing Laboon to receive multiple donated raffle prizes for the event, including trips to Cancun and Walt Disney World, and even lunch with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who has been posting on social media about the event.

“It’s amazing how much support we’ve gotten,” Laboon said. “We’re just trying to keep up with it.”

Translation: “Take that, you heartless witch.”

[via WPXI]