By Molly Flynn

It was a sweltering August day, with temperatures reaching about 90 degrees, and tourists were flooding the streets. Julia Bianchi, Lillian McClaren, and I were bored out of our minds. Julia had the great idea of setting up a lemonade stand to make some extra cash. 

We started to prepare, taking lemons, sugar, and a lemon-printed tablecloth from Lily’s house for our stand on my front lawn. We took a massive sheet of paper from Lily’s basement and wrote “LEMONADE $1” in bright green. No one could read the writing in the blinding sunlight.

Julia then (again) had the great idea that since we are members of the National Junior Honor Society, we should donate the money for service hours. Lily and I agreed on one condition: we got to pick where the money went.

After a couple of minutes of researching random charities near us on Lily’s phone, we decided on Make-A-Wish. A castle only half an hour away would be perfect.

We added “All proceeds go to Make-A-Wish Foundation” to our sign. Business started booming.

Our biggest donor was a Bradley local, Shannon Symons, who donated $100!

“I donated because, as a cancer survivor myself, I knew that what these kids were raising money for is important,” she said.

On September 2, Julia’s mom drove us to the Make-A-Wish Castle in Monroe Township. We donated our money, and Gina, a Make-A-Wish employee, gave us an amazing tour. She talked about how, using the money from donations, they would give children with chronic illnesses one wish of their choice – whether that be to visit Disney World or to meet the Rock, the foundation does everything in its power to make that wish come true. We found out that Make-A-Wish helps over 17,000 kids per year. That’s approximately 46 kids per day!

We started in a floor maze with beautiful glasswork and life-sized chess pieces. There was then a room where the names of the biggest donors were displayed on a wall to honor the work they had done. 

Then we went upstairs. Unfortunately, I can’t say much about what was up there. Make-A-Wish strives to keep special moments private for guests and Make-A-Wish kids. All I will say is that if you have the opportunity to go, I would. 

It’s so crazy to me that Julia, Lily, and I were just trying to amuse ourselves with a little lemonade stand on my lawn, and we ended up having this amazing experience.

Overall, Make-A-Wish is an amazing organization to help kids do something they love. If I were to leave you with one thing, it would be to do anything to help out. Even though we weren’t Make-A-Wish’s top donor, we still felt like we made a difference. I urge you to do the same.