Lemonade (and salsa and goodies) Stand Fundraising

My dear friend Collins Foster and her daughter Emerson are hosting a lemonade stand July 30 in honor of Emery's birthday. Emerson and Emery met when they were 4 in preschool and became fast friends. Just before Emery went into rejection the girls were taking a weekly gymnastics class together. Seeing them tumbling and on the balance beam made my heart swell which made it all the more difficult to accept the fact she went into rejection and didn't survive.

Collins brought Emerson to the hospital to visit several times. I think during the first visit is when Emery had lice (unbeknownst to us at the time) and when we discovered the lice I had to make the call to Collins to advise her to treat Emerson and herself. Collins was so gracious, instead of being grossed out and avoiding us after that she embraced it and referred to it as a child's right of passage. What a wonderful friend to make me feel OK about an embarrassing situation.

Collins and Emerson were also there one evening when we were attempting a family dinner at the hospital. The cafeteria has limited choices especially for someone like me who is gluten free and can't eat onions or garlic. Phillip and I had to make special arrangements to bring food with us to the hospital either from home or from a nearby store. We would have to pack up coolers because there was no place to easily store food or reheat it other than a microwave. We had an incident at home where our large freezer had been left open and everything started to thaw. On this particular evening Phillip brought frozen/thawing shrimp to the hospital so we could eat it before it went bad. It turned out to be disgusting and Collins sat there and watched me choke down a cold shrimp taco. With avocado mayonnaise no less!

When I told her about the idea of a family kitchen she immediately saw why that would help families who are staying in the hospital for more than a day or two. So she has been helping us with fundraising ideas from day one. Their lemonade stand will generate proceeds to be donated toward our kitchen effort and we will always share the crazy moments from the hospital that strengthened our friendship and bond.

Thank you Collins & Emerson for being so supportive and thoughtful. I would love to start a movement of lemonade stands on Emery's birthday, if anyone else has wondered how they could help us with the family kitchen effort & you like the idea of a lemonade stand we would love to hear what you have planned and how it goes.