The Lemonade Stand that Changed a Life

When my siblings and I made a lemonade stand as kids and sold a couple of five cent glasses of our mouth puckering mixture, we thought 50 cents was a million dollars and with our change jingling in our pocket we’d pack up the stand and take take a walk to the pharmacy that sold five cent candy.

But for seven-year-old Brayden Grozdanich of Canada, 50 cents wouldn’t be enough to pay for the expensive surgery he would need to help him cope with his cerebral palsy, and thanks to the boy’s best friend Quinn Callander, there would be no napping until the job was done.

After asking his parents if he could help raise funds to pay for Grozdanich’s surgery, Callander set up a lemonade stand that has helped to make over $55,000 for a surgery costing roughly $15,000, not including travel expenses and the pricey physical therapy necessary after the surgery.

Starting an online campaign to go along with the lemonade stand racked up more than 2,300 Facebook shares and brought in 1,500 customers looking for an ice-cold glass of lemonade in honor of Grozdanich.

It’s truly touching to see how a little boy’s mission to raise a little bit of cash for his best friend became bigger than he himself can probably understand now, but is something neither his friend nor those cheering him on around the world will ever forget.

Who would have thought that the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” could be taken so literally and with such impressive results?