Girl's efforts aid charity
At 7 years old, Ruby Baker has made an early start at philanthropy, after she came up with the idea to set up a lemonade stand in her Zelienople neighborhood to raise money for charity.
The stand, in combination with online fundraising and the support of a local business owner, exceeded all expectations raising $3,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Pittsburgh.
It all started with an idea from Ruby and her summer-long insistence that it become a reality before the season was through.
“My daughter has been asking for months to do a lemonade stand,” said Amber Baker, Ruby's mother. “She wanted to do it for charity and for kids.”
Her mother helped Ruby decide on a charity and they began preparing for the stand.
“We did a GoFundMe page a week before,” Amber Baker said, explaining she preferred not to post her family's address publicly on Facebook, “we raised around $600.”
While the donations were coming in online, the Bakers set up the stand, stocking it with lemonade, fruit punch, iced tea, hot dogs and water.
Ruby manned the booth along with her twin sister Lucy and 5-year-old sister Penny.
After posting a message to the private neighborhood Facebook page, the girls opened for business, and the customers began flowing in.
“It went excellent,” said Amber Baker. “(Ruby) was thrilled. She had no idea it would blow up the way it did.”
Friends, family and neighbors came to patronize the little lemonade stand and the crowd continued to grow.
“People were coming with 20s and 50s; kids were emptying their piggybacks,” Amber Baker said. “It turned into a little block party.”
All together the girls made $900 with the lemonade stand and an additional $565 through their GoFundMe page that was set up by their parents.
Meghan Sweeney, local McDonald's owner and Amber's cousin, matched the girls' with $1,535 to bring the total to $3,000.
“We were expecting like $500,” Amber Baker said.
Earlier this week, the Bakers presented the charity with the funds they raised.
“We are so grateful to the entire Baker family and Meghan Sweeney,” said Megan Skubovius, RMHC's development director. “Their kindness and generosity will help Ronald McDonald House keep families close as their children face challenging medical issues.”
The GoFundMe page is still active and can still accept additional donations for RMHC.
To contribute, go to https://www.gofundme.com/ruby039s-lemonade-stand-for-charity.
