Arlington Kindergartner Raises $200 For Disaster Relief

ARLINGTON, MA — Sometimes a little spark of imagination is all you need to start something greater than yourself, as one Arlington kindergartner showed this weekend when her cider stand raised more than $200 in less than three hours to help those impacted by recent disasters.

It all started with a children's book and a story from mom: Stephanie Gendron was reading a story to her (almost 6-year-old) daughter Libby about a lemonade stand. It sparked a memory from her childhood, and she told her daughter about setting up a stand on her street growing up.

"Libby got so excited about it," said Gendron. So they agreed to set up their own stand this fall and have any money it made go toward a charity. After the spate of hurricanes Gendron suggested helping those who were affected by the storms to her daughter who jumped on the idea. Then they waited for the perfect weather and planned to sell cider.

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Mom made the letters on the sign, Libby colored them and added leaves. Then on Sunday she lugged her toy cash register out and set up shop on a card table. Brownies, donuts and cider? Each a $1.

But that's not really what people were giving.

"This turned out so much better than I thought," said Gendron. "People were so incredibly generous."

A number of people would buy one item but would donate $10 along with it, she said. And then Gendron's in-laws each donated $20 - but it was special, she said, because the $20 was given to them as a "pay-it-forward" effort their church in Andover was sponsoring. They were paying forward their money to help support those affected by recent hurricanes.

In less than three hours - a lot of time for a Kindergartner but not much time for a fundraiser — Libby managed to make $210. ($172 at the actual stand and the rest via phone pledges from generous family members, says her mom).

Gendron said she plans to give the money to the American Red Cross. And as part of the learning lesson for Libby she will be printing off some "bed time" reading material so Libby can learn where the money is going. She's still working on a way to help Libby see and understand what happens to the money and how it goes to help those in need.

Gendron said she and her husband Zack are raising their children to learn how to care for the world and those who don't have what they have.

"We're trying from a really young age to instill that in our kids and we're really proud that it seems to be taking hold... She really is seeming to care about people who don't have what she has. It's really nice to see that."

As for Libby, she said she's proud of the money she helped raise. "I'm going to give it to people to help people with getting their houses back," she told Patch over the phone Monday.

But there's another lesson here. There were a number of people who stopped by to donate in quite a short period of time, including a member of the Arlington Police Department in uniform (Libby was pretty excited about that star appearance, said her mom).

"It just makes you feel in the craziness of the world: People still have values that matter," said Gendron. "There were people who said 'I've been looking for a way to help.' She gave them that opportunity."

And it seems that, in turn, has inspired Libby to set up shop again in the Spring to help someone else. This time? "Cookies, lemonade and watermelon," she said. "Gotta have something healthy."

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Photos courtesy of Stephanie Gendron