The old saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
The Zerbe and Weidner families of Cincinnati were able to turn a humble lemonade stand into more than $150,000 at last count.
Amanda Zerbe and her three sons along with Hillary Weidner and her three daughters, all under the age of 5, decided to have a lemonade stand Labor Day weekend.
“It lasted like 45 minutes; they got bored,” Weidner told Cincinnati.com’s Kathrine Nero on Wednesday during Coffee Break with Kathrine. The stand raised $148 for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center – and four of the children presented a giant check to the hospital.
Weidner’s Instagram post about the stand and money raised went viral, and the families are still bringing in thousands of dollars daily.
The families chose to donate the money to Children’s Hospital because it was where Weidner’s oldest daughter, Bea, was treated in 2015.
“She is so strong and such a warrior so we wanted to make sure the money went to a good spot,” Weidner told Nero.
Weidner donated a portion of her liver to her daughter Bea, after the child was diagnosed with a rare life-threatening pediatric liver disease called biliary atresia, the hospital said. Children’s has said the liver donation saved Bea’s life.
The original goal was to raise $7,700 in honor of the five-year anniversary of Bea’s liver transplant. The anniversary is July 7, 2020. “Then we hit the $7,700 mark and we were like, this is getting out of control,” Weidner said.
Weidman said people are now hosting lemonade stands across the country and donating their funds to the cause.
“Get out there and raise money for people who are less fortunate,” she said.
The money raised is going to fund organoid research, according to Children’s Hospital. Scientists at the hospital are currently developing ways to use stem cells from patients to generate miniature organs, known as organoids. Children’s website says that organoids are a way to understand disease, develop personalized treatments and generate tissue for transplantation.
There are currently almost 114,000 people who are on the list for a life-saving organ transplant in the United States, according to the American Transplant Foundation.
“For us, Bea, we don’t know how long her new liver will last her. It could last her 20 years, it could last her 10 years, we don’t know, but we are banking on this science that Cincinnati Children’s is working on,” Weidner said.
The families are accepting donations through Venmo at @Hillary-Weidner.
Their end goal? “The sky’s the limit,” Weinder told Nero, “but you know our goal is to get on Ellen Degeneres.”