When the world falls apart, I often find that we can look to the children to see our humanity.
Recent wildfires destroyed huge parts of the Maui island in Hawaii. The tragedy left 115 people dead, more than 2,000 homes and buildings destroyed and more than $5.5 billion in damages.
So when one little boy learned that after he and his family returned from their Hawaii vacation, a devastating fire happened, he wanted to help.
Five-year-old Edison Juel of Seattle, Wash., spent the first moments of hearing about the fire on the news, begging his parents to turn the TV off. He said it was too sad. But, he kept trying to understand what had happened.
Photo courtesy of the Juel family.
“He kept asking questions this last week, clearly trying to reconcile his belief in the world being fully good with something that is so awful,” his mom, Ami Juel said.
He’d ask if kids had really lost all their toys, or their bed, and then drop it, the issue clearly on his mind, but hard to process.”
He told his mom that he had seen a lemonade stand once and wanted to have one himself to raise money for the victims of the fire.
His parents jumped at the idea, helping Edison stock up on lemonade, as well as ice cream, candy, water and popsicles. They named the stand ‘Food & Stuff & Lemonade for Lahaina’.
“I hoped for his sake he would sell a couple pitchers of lemonade, maybe make $100,” his mom recalled thinking.
She had very little to worry about, it turned out. Prior to the opening of the stand, people were already donating money. Once open, the little lemonade stand quickly ran out of lemonade, multiple times. The price for one cup was $1, but people were paying up to $20 per cup asking that the change from the $20 be donated.
“We got a $500 Venmo donation and couldn’t believe it but Edison was more excited about the kid who showed up with a bag full of coins,” Ami said.
“Most people were like, ‘This is so cool. What a great idea. We’ve been looking for ways to help. We felt so helpless and didn’t know where to donate,’” Ami said. “A lot of people came by and stopped and told us like their story of a trip to Hawaii or some connection they had to the island.”
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The one day of selling lemonade lasted more than a week, bringing the entire community together to raise money. Both of Edison’s parents were given contributions from their workplaces. In the end, Edison raised more than $17,000, and learned how much a community matters when it comes to helping others.
“He now believes that he can make a difference and that he has good ideas and that it is important to care about our neighbors near and far,” Ami said. “Thanks for blowing our minds today with generous donations from friends and family near and far, old and new. Thanks for reminding us that generosity begets generosity, and letting us spend one of our best summer days watching our kiddo learn about helping and working hard.”
Watch below for a look at this selfless little boy and his wonderful lemonade stand!
Sources: My Modern Met | KING5
