Two sweet girls are turning lemonade into a stand for hope

The best lemonade stand ever — if you ask its two proud proprietors — is in suburban Alabama, where best friends Landri, who’s 12, and 11-year-old Maelin-Kate, set up beside their neighborhood swimming pool to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. 

This summer marks the girls’ third lemonade stand for St. Jude. They have big plans for it. 

“Ours is the best lemonade stand ever!” Maelin-Kate said. She’s like that — everything is the best ever. A butterfly in the backyard. New art supplies. Spaghetti for dinner.

The girls started planning this year’s lemonade stand almost as soon as they packed up last year’s. They hand-painted posters, designed stickers and T-shirts, and asked nearby businesses to donate lemonade and baked goods.

In just two summers, the girls have raised almost $8,000 for St. Jude. Their secret weapon? Maelin-Kate. “I tell them, ‘Please donate to St. Jude because I was a St. Jude patient, and they saved my life, and I want to help the other kids,’” she said.

Small but determined

When Megan and Paul adopted Maelin-Kate from China in 2017, they knew their almost-3-year-old daughter had hip dysplasia, but routine medical tests revealed something else. Maelin-Kate had Fanconi anemia, an inherited blood disorder that prevents bone marrow from making enough blood cells, leading to bone marrow failure and, in some instances, leukemia. 

Maelin-Kate was referred to St. Jude, where treatment included monitoring, blood transfusions and, in 2019, a bone marrow transplant. Fanconi anemia carries a high cancer risk, so St. Jude doctors monitor Maelin-Kate closely.  

In 2023, Landri’s mom, Elizabeth, spotted a Facebook post about the St. Jude Lemonade Stand Challenge, a summer fundraiser encouraging kids to host stands and collect donations.

“Oh, we have to do this!” Landri said. She asked Maelin-Kate to do it with her. 

“I like spending time with Mae,” Landri said, “and I wanted to raise money for St. Jude, so parents don’t have to worry about having enough money to get their kids treatment when they’re sick.”

The girls live just a street apart and met at the neighborhood pool in 2021, bonding instantly over their love of Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos and all things sparkly. Maelin-Kate has been healthy since Landri’s known her. 

“I’m so glad she’s better now,” Landri said. She can’t imagine a world without her Maelin-Kate in it. The girls love swimming, making slime and sleepovers. When they watch a movie, they giggle and chat through most of it. A lemonade stand would be fun, too. 

Elizabeth signed them up, committing to raise at least $400 for St. Jude. Megan and Elizabeth didn’t imagine the girls would come close to that, so they figured they’d each pitch in to meet the goal. Landri had other ideas. 

She was determined to raise $2000. “Landri is very competitive,” Elizabeth said. “That first year, she heard someone had raised X amount of money, so she wanted to raise more.”

The moms posted on social media so friends and family could donate to their fundraising page online. The girls told everyone at school.

Their setup that first year was simple: a folding table and a hand-lettered sign that read, “Lemonade for St. Jude.” 

Their neighborhood isn’t busy, so the girls stood on the corner of the main road, chanting, “Lemonade for St. Jude,” waving cars in and racing back to serve them. When customers walked over, the moms called “Ca-caw!” to alert the girls. “Those girls worked so hard and got so much joy out of it,” Megan said.

Hot and sweaty by day’s end, the girls jumped into the pool, still in their clothes, to celebrate. They had raised $2,130.

“Never underestimate little kids,” Maelin-Kate said. The girls vowed to raise even more the next summer.

‘I was one of them’

Planning for their second lemonade stand for St. Jude began just weeks later. In the carpool to school, they brainstormed ideas for signs and decided they needed matching lavender T-shirts with “Landri & Maelin’s Lemonade Stand” printed in white letters. 

The girls talked their moms into ordering strawberry boba balls to fancy up the lemonade on request. A nearby Chick-fil-A donated four gallons of lemonade and four trays of cookies. Staff there have known Maelin-Kate since she was a toddler and a regular at a playgroup that met there. 

The girls’ goal: $5,000. Elizabeth urged caution. “I want them to have goals, but I don’t want them to be disappointed,” she said. 

This time, their setup required four folding tables. They opened at 9 a.m. and were flooded with customers — family, friends, neighbors, classmates, teachers, their parents’ coworkers — sometimes 30 people at a time. “It turned into a real community event,” Megan said.

Maelin-Kate leaned into car windows, telling potential donors, “There are so many sick kids at St. Jude who need your help. I was one of them.” 

Landri said it felt good to see so many people show up. “She can see how amazing people can be and how giving,” Elizabeth said. Megan said the girls have learned that even though they’re young, they can make a difference.

The girls refused to close early, sticking it out for hours. “They’re out there the whole time, working hard,” Elizabeth said. 

“It’s fun,” Landri said. “Plus, it’s for a good cause. It’s helping other kids.”

“And we would do it all again tomorrow,” Maelin-Kate said.

They raised another $5,700 for St. Jude. “They blew it out of the water,” Elizabeth said. The moms were surprised, but not the girls. “People want to help,” Maelin-Kate said. “You just have to ask.”

Again, the girls jumped into the pool, fully dressed, a tradition now. This time, their moms joined them. 

Never say never

Now Landri and Maelin-Kate are gearing up for their third lemonade stand for St. Jude on July 12. Their new signs are more colorful and detailed. On one, Maelin-Kate wrote, “Help St. Jude kids get treatment like me.”

Last year, people asked if they could buy the shirts the girls were wearing. This year, they’re selling watermelon-pink T-shirts online, featuring the girls’ drawings — a lemonade stand on the back with a quote from St. Jude founder Danny Thomas and two plump lemons with Landri’s careful lettering, “Landri and Mae’s Lemonade Stand for St. Jude,” on the front. They also are selling stickers of their artwork. Profits from sales will go to St. Jude. 

The girls met again with staff at Chick-fil-A who promised 10 gallons of lemonade and eight trays of cookies with instructions to call for more if needed. They talked their moms into ordering two flavors of boba balls this year — strawberry and mango — plus edible glitter to add sparkle. “It is a very Mae and a very Landri thing to do,” Megan said.

Their moms posted again on social media and made fliers to put up at local businesses, including the girls’ orthodontist office. The girls invite everyone they see.

Maelin-Kate thinks they’ll raise at least $6,000. “It’s a big number,” her mom warned. “We’ve got this,” Maelin-Kate told her. Landri is aiming even higher. “You have to dream big,” she said.

No one has ever said “no” to donating to St. Jude. Not with Maelin-Kate there, proof of what’s possible.