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With glitter and grit, Maelin-Kate and Landri have raised nearly $22,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
The best lemonade stand ever — if you ask its two proud proprietors — is in suburban Alabama, where best friends Maelin-Kate who’s 11 and 12-year-old Landri, set up beside their neighborhood swimming pool to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
This summer marked the girls’ third lemonade stand for St. Jude. They had big plans for it.
In just three summers, the girls have raised nearly $22,000 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.
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.
Thanks to donor support, families never receive a bill for treatment, housing, travel, or food. Founded in 1962 by Danny Thomas, the son of immigrant parents, to treat children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases regardless of their race, ethnicity, beliefs or ability to pay.
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. 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.
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. “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.
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.
The girls’ goal: $5,000. They 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.
They raised another $5,700 for St. Jude. 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.
Landri and Maelin-Kate had their third lemonade stand for St. Jude this summer. Their new signs were 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 sold 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.
They talked their moms into ordering two flavors of boba balls this year — strawberry and mango — plus edible glitter to add sparkle.
Maelin-Kate thought they would 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.
Maelin-Kate and Landri ended up raising almost $14,000 and jumped into the pool to celebrate. No one has ever said “no” to donating to St. Jude. Not with Maelin-Kate there, proof of what’s possible.