Islip Terrace Teen Raises $6K For St. Jude Children's Hospital

ISLIP TERRACE, NY — Oliver Rivadenyra remembers exactly when he saw the commercial that changed his life. It was 2015, and the five-year-old was watching television with his grandmother.

"An advertisement for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital came on," he said. "I was like, what's going on with these kids?"

Oliver's mother, Nancy Merino, explained that cancer is a disease, and affects both children and adults.

"I looked into St. Jude and I realized I wanted to raise money for them," Oliver said.

Inspired by the children's cartoon Max and Ruby, he decided to run a lemonade stand.

"So my husband goes out, and he builds him a stand," said Merino, "and it's actually the same stand we have today."

Since then, Oliver — now 13 years old — and his family have raised thousands of dollars for the hospital, and have run the lemonade stand for almost eight consecutive years.

The most recent fundraiser, which occurred on Aug. 20, raised more than $6,000.

"We're so proud, and we supported his decision," said Merino.

Oliver told Patch that when the pandemic hit, his family decided to not hold the stand due to safety reasons. Therefore, this year's even had lower expectations.

"We thought it's not really going to be as successful as the other ones, because we did last minute advertisements," he said. "My initial goal was to raise a little bit over $3,500."

To his surprise, more than 300 people attended the stand, emptying five, three-gallon containers of lemonade within six hours.

Numerous community groups also participated in the fundraiser, Oliver said, such as the Punishers and Red Knights motorcycle clubs, the Islip Terrace and East Brentwood fire departments, the Hauppauge Exchange and Central Islip ambulances.

The fundraiser, they said, is a family effort.

" My husband and I, we advertise, we post things on social media," said Merino. "We spread the word as best we can. This is the first year he (Oliver) went around the neighborhood on his own and was handing out flyers."

Oliver said he plans to continue the lemonade stands for as long as he possibly can. Although he personally has never been affected by childhood cancer, helping others is the right thing to do, he said.

"If you were put in a position like this, you would want someone to help. You would want someone to answer your prayers at night, to have someone to help you in a situation," he said. "Just put yourself in their shoes."

To learn more about Oliver's Lemonade Stand, click here.