Kids Sell Lemonade to Help Pay Mom’s Medical Bills, One Day Police Cars Drive Up to Them – Story of the Day

After finding out their mother couldn't leave the hospital until she settled her medical bills, a pair of siblings decided to sell lemonade to earn money. One day, police cars arrive on their driveway for something the two kids never expected.

John and Nancy were left with their grandmother Linda after their mom was hospitalized for an illness. They had been with their grandmother for five days and were curious about when they could finally see their mom.

"When is mom coming home, grandma?" they asked her one afternoon. Their grandmother sighed and told them it might take a couple more days.

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"The hospital won't allow her to leave until all of her medical bills are settled. I gave your mom all I could, but it still isn't enough. There's still a large amount that we need to pay off," Linda explained.

John and Nancy were concerned that their mom had to stay in the hospital longer. They missed her a lot and wanted her home as soon as possible.

"What if we put up a lemonade stand, John?" Nancy asked her older brother. "We can pick the lemons out from the garden and make fresh juice out of them," she suggested.

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Her brother smiled. "That's a great idea, Nancy! Come on, let's get started! We can also make some banners for our stand." They headed out to the backyard to gather lemons.

That same afternoon, John and Nancy stayed outside the entire afternoon, selling lemonades. They did the same thing every day after school, but they only managed to earn ten dollars.

"How are we going to help mom with ten dollars?" Nancy asked sadly. "There's barely anyone in our neighborhood. Maybe we should set up our stand someplace crowded," she suggested.

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"We can't do that, Nancy. How will we carry all of this there? Grandma Linda won't be able to help us," John sighed.

The two of them sat on the side of the road, looking defeated. They were sad they couldn't earn money the way they wanted to.

After a couple of seconds, their silent pondering was interrupted by the loud sound of police sirens. "John, there are police cars headed our way," Nancy panicked. "Are they here for us?"

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John sat closer to Nancy and the two watched as the policemen got out of their cars and walked toward them. "What did we do?" John whispered.

"Hey, fellas!" one of the policemen greeted. "My buddy Jacob over here said that his neighbors had a lemonade stand in front of their yard. Is this yours?"

The two children gulped and nodded their heads. "I'm sorry, officer. I didn't think there would be anything wrong with setting up a lemonade stand. Besides, we didn't earn a lot," John tried to reason.

"Don't worry, bud. You're not in trouble. I bought a cup from you two the other day, remember? I asked why you were selling lemonade, and you told me it was to raise funds to get your mom out of the hospital," Jacob interrupted upon seeing that John and Nancy looked nervous.

"I told my friends over here, and we decided we wanted to help. Come on out to the back of the police car; we have something to show you," Jacob told the kids.

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They slowly made their way to the trunk of one of the police cars and saw a nicely-painted wooden lemonade stand. "WOW!" Nancy said in awe. "That's beautiful!"

"There's a big food festival at the city center today, and we got you a stall. What do you say? Do you want to spend the rest of the day earning money?" Jacob asked the kids, who were already jumping up and down.

"YES! Thank you, officers! It's really true! You guys are the town's heroes!" John said. "I have to tell my grandma!" he added, running inside the house.

When they arrived downtown, the police officers helped Nancy and John set up their booth. Linda accompanied the two kids and was surprised to see people lining up to get a cup of lemonade from them.

It turned out that the police officers didn't stop at just helping the kids set up the booth, but they distributed flyers about the lemonade stand and what the kids were raising money for. There was a large crowd eager to buy lemonade, many leaving donations much more than the original cost of a cup.

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By the end of that day, the children were shocked at the amount of money they had raised. They handed everything to their grandma. "What do you think, grandma? Is this enough to get mom home?" John asked.

Linda had tears in her eyes as she nodded her head. "This is more than enough to take your mom home," she revealed. "Come on; I think she'd love to hear that her kids did everything they could to get her out of the hospital."

What can we learn from this story?

• If the world were more childlike, it would be a much better place to live in. John and Nancy were determined to help their mom, so they put up a lemonade stand to earn money. A simple concept made a world's difference when they earned more than what their mom needed to be discharged from the hospital.
• If you're in a position to help someone in need, do it. The police officers didn't need to help John and Nancy earn more money, but they did anyway. They went above and beyond their duty, and it ended up changing the lives of their constituents.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a group of students who showed up to prom in T-shirts to raise money for their grieving music teacher.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.