A five-year-old North Carolina girl has raised thousands of dollars through her lemonade stand to benefit babies in need.
On Saturday, Ava Lewis, the little girl making a big difference, set up her stand at Mr. Fries Man, a restaurant in downtown Durham, WNCN reported.
“I have to sell lemonade to get babies in need of their stuff,” Ava told the outlet.
She began selling her lemonade made with grandmother’s recipe when she was just three, according to WNCN. With the profits, her family buys diapers, pacifiers, and toys to benefit babies and mothers at a nearby shelter.
“I really think that it’s a great thing for someone who is young and who has a passion to help others,” Ava’s mother, Maggie Lewis told the outlet.
Maggie says the lemonade stand all started when Ava had a hankering for crab legs a few years back.
“What happened was Ava asked for some crab legs, and so for her spring break, I said, ‘oh you’re going to get a job because you’re asking for crab legs,'” Maggie told WNCN. “So that’s how I ended up getting her lemonade stand.”
She and Ava set up the stand outside of Maggie’s salon, and the lemonade became an enormous hit, WNCN reported. Maggie likened the business to a parade and said people would often ask her daughter what she intended to do with the money, to which she responded, “Help babies in need.”
As the lemonade stand grew over time, cups became bottles, and bottles turned into gallons.
In 2019 Ava, nicknamed the “Lemonade Baby,” was recognized by the Durham Board of Commissioners for her work, WTVD reported at the time. Following news coverage, her story went viral. Now, customers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom take to her website, alemoande.com, to buy her products, WNCN reported.
On Monday, she planned to set up shop at a Durham produce market.