In an effort to pay for her mother to get a proper headstone, a 7-year-old Alabama girl started a lemonade stand. Eventually, she was able to get the funds, raising $15,000 in total.
According to the Jackson County Sentinel, Emouree Johnson lost her mother, Karli Bordner, unexpectedly at the beginning of March. Bordner was just a few days short of turning 30.
Days after her passing, Bordner was buried in Rehobeth Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Guntersville, Alabama. However, when she first visited her mother’s grave, she noticed that there was no headstone.
She told CBS News that the lack of a headstone made her feel “like she was being left out.”
After her grandmother, Jennifer Bordner, explained to her that the family could not afford anything else, she decided to try and take matters into her own hands.
Jennifer Bordner shared with the Sentinel that her granddaughter decided to start a lemonade stand to pay for the headstone, and while they started with just four lemons, they quickly needed more.
“I really didn’t think anything of it,’ she said, ‘I just want to do it to help out with my mommy’s stuff.’ And she told me to take a picture of her and put it on Facebook,” Bordner told the Sentinel.
While they didn’t initially share what the lemonade stand was for, the post garnered attention from Good Samaritans, who came out in droves to pay $1 for a cup of lemonade.
“The most that we got from one cup of lemonade was $300,” Emouree told the Sentinel.
After word got out what the lemonade stand was for, a monument company offered to donate a fitting headstone for Bordner, Jennifer Bordner shared.
Now, she says the money raised will help offset the funeral costs the family has.
“Your kindness, generosity, love for Emouree, her mother’s funeral is paid, and the headstone is being donated thanks to everyone. I have never experienced something so amazing a gift from God for Emouree. This has been an amazing blessing I can’t say thank you enough,” the emotional tribute read.
As for the little girl, Emouree shared that she was amazed at how many came to support her in her cause.
“I didn’t know just making a little lemonade would bring this many people to my house. It’s fun. But it’s unbelievable at the same time,” she said.