Such sweet gifts of kindness, community

Like most parents, I have a young son who desired to open a lemonade stand this summer, the quintessential summer experience. Starting out, I did not know how much it would influence and change our lives for the better, and because it has, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you.

Thank you to his very first customer, whose generosity fired such a strong ambition in his heart, he continued to open his stand every week for the next 11 weeks. We refer to you as our lemonade stand angel, and are so grateful that you invested in him and taught him that his potential was limitless.

Thank you to the customer who began a pay it forward chain. When you knelt down and asked my son if he could do it, you fired in is heart a deep impression and understanding of how rewarding generosity is. Your generosity lasted the entire day as community members responded in kind and continued to feed the chain of generosity. My son walked away that day with a desire to share that generosity and did so on all the other lemonade stands we visited this summer… He hopes that it is still continuing.

Thank you to all our weekly customers who continued, all summer long, to stop by with smiles, words of encouragement, patience, and kindness. You taught my son service, appreciation, and above all, a strong sense of community. He met people from all walks of life; mailmen, teachers, builders, businessmen and women, mothers, fathers, and neighbors. From you he learned what it meant to be a community and that he was a special part of it.

So, from one mom to an entire community, thank you. Thank you for making a simple jar of lemonade a summer-long journey of friendship, kindness and community!

Twyla Mahelona

Snohomish

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