7 Year Old A’Layah Robinson Turns Lemons into Love for Foster Care Children!
A’Layah Robinson lives in Sulphur, Oklahoma. She is only six years old, but already she has big ideas for helping other kids!
One Saturday morning when A’Layah was five, she saw some teenagers who had a lemonade stand. They wanted to raise money to help some of their friends. A’Layah wanted to know more, so her mother helped her find out all about how to start a lemonade stand.
She wanted very much to help kids too, especially foster kids! You see, A’Layah and her brother were foster children themselves. A foster child lives in someone’s home for a while until he or she can be adopted.
She thought about the time her brother came to live with them. She felt sad that he only had old clothes and shoes that were too small. She thought maybe there would be a way that she could help with a lemonade stand! That way she could raise money so that other foster children could have a toy and a few things of their own.
Her first lemonade stand made $132.00! A’Layah was so excited to go with her mother to buy things for the foster kids. She decided they should have a toy, a toothbrush, a blanket and a bible. Her mom helped her find a drawstring backpack to put it all in. Her first donation was for 24 children!
A’Layah wanted to help more kids too, so her mom helped her start a charity called A’Layah’s Lemonade for Love. She has already raised over $17,000! Someday maybe she will be able to send toys to all 400,540 kids in foster care.
Here is a video that tells A’Layah’s inspiring story:
Additional Resources:
- Here is A’Layah’s facebook page and her fundraising page so you can learn more about her story and what she does!
- May is National Foster Care Month! Find out more about foster care awareness.
- Here is a link to other InspireMyKids stories and quotes about caring
- Here is a book to read about the true story of someone with cancer who started a lemonade stand to help other kids with cancer.
- Check out this IMK post about someone helping kids in foster care find a family.
Topics for Discussion:
- Even though A’Layah is only six and has difficulties of her own, she was able to do a really big thing for other kids. How did she do that?
- What can you do to help kids in foster care or the families who take care of them?
- If you had a lemonade stand to raise money for something, what kind of thing would you like use it to support?
- What other things besides lemonade do you think would be great for raising money to help a good cause?
Take Action:
- Here is a list of some things you can do to help kids in foster care
- Don’t know where to begin? Here is some basic information for making a lemonade stand that really works.
- Lemons to lemonade has some useful tips for starting your own lemonade stand for charity.
Teacher Features:
- Here is a link to a Critical Reading Skills worksheet that you can use for elementary school students.
- Here is a link to a Critical Reading Skills worksheet that you can use for middle school students.
