6-year-old from New Jersey sells lemonade to buy toys for children in hospital
POINT PLEASANT, New Jersey (WABC) -- A 6-year-old girl from New Jersey is helping people beat the heat while raising money to buy toys for children who are in the hospital.
Reece Tobias saw a video online about a lemonade stand and asked her dad Robert to build a stand for her.
Reece told her father she wanted to make money to buy toys for hospitalized children "so they can be happy."
"I was extremely excited and happy, as a parent, that that's the first thing she would say," Robert said. "It's a selfless act so for her, at six years old, to be doing that already, that's a great thing and I think it's what the world needs."
Reece's parents decided any money they made they would give to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as they knew other parents who had taken their kids there for treatment.
Robert got the stand built and then set out to find a place to set it up with high foot traffic.
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He found a place in their hometown of Point Pleasant, Nature's Reward Farm Market, where he just so happened to have an "in."
"I worked there growing up as a kid for 20 years or so," Robert said. "So I talked to the owner, Bill, and he was more than happy. He donated cases of lemons to us."
Last Saturday, on one of the hottest days of the year, they set up outside the market -- and in no time they made hundreds of dollars.
"We were there for two and a half hours and we made $525," Robert said.
On July 25, they'll be outside Divi Tree Coffee in Point Pleasant.
They plan to sell lemonade every Saturday through the end of the summer at different locations throughout the area.
Reece says the secret ingredient, is love.
"There's a lot of kids that need a smile on their face and that's what we're trying to do," Robert said.
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