Free lemonade. Real donations. One very good afternoon.
We set up a little stand, poured lemonade for anyone who stopped, and collected donations for Isaiah 117 House — a safe, loving home for kids waiting for a foster family.
Why we put a jar on the table instead of a price tag
July 19, 2026 · Filed under Good Causes
One of the very first things we wanted to do with this little corner of the internet was use it for something good. So we did the smallest, oldest, most neighborhood thing we could think of: we set up a lemonade stand.
Only here's the twist — the lemonade was free. Every cup, no charge. Instead of a price, we set out a donations jar for Isaiah 117 House, along with a little printed flyer (and a QR code, because it's still us) so anyone walking by could learn who they were giving to and give directly if they wanted.
People stopped. Kids dragged their parents over. Someone asked if they could just donate and skip the lemonade (we poured them one anyway). By the end of the afternoon the jar was heavier than we expected, and we got to send every bit of it to a charity doing genuinely beautiful work for kids in a really hard moment.
It wasn't fancy and it wasn't hard. It was just a folding table, a tent, a pitcher, and the decision to point it all at something that mattered. If you've ever thought about doing something like this — you absolutely should. Here's everything we used, in case it helps.
117 House
A safe, loving home while kids wait
Isaiah 117 House gives children a safe, loving place to land during one of the hardest moments imaginable — the hours after a child is removed from a home and is waiting, sometimes overnight, for a foster family placement. Instead of a crisis center or an office, kids get a real home, a warm meal, clean clothes, a soft bed, and calm, caring adults. The name comes from the call in Isaiah 1:17 to defend the fatherless, and the model has spread to homes across more than a dozen states, including right here in North Carolina and South Carolina.
We picked them because they meet a need most of us never even realize exists — and they do it with extraordinary gentleness. Every dollar from our jar went straight to them.
Learn more & donate →The exact supplies behind the stand
Nothing fancy — just the stuff that actually held up for an afternoon in the sun. Some links are affiliate links; if you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and a portion supports causes like this one. Full disclosure.
I use my Pampered Chef pitcher and love it — it pours clean and holds a lot. (Search for the current one; they cycle stock.)
The classic powder mix — quick, reliable, and honestly nostalgic. We made a big batch ahead of time and kept it cold.
A lightweight plastic folding table that sets up in a minute and folds flat to carry. The whole stand lived on this.
An instant pop-up tent for shade — absolutely necessary in the afternoon sun, and it makes the stand look intentional.
The same chairs we haul to every soccer game — pulled double duty so we had somewhere to sit between waves of customers.
A good cooler full of ice kept the lemonade cold all afternoon. We just grabbed a bag of ice from the store on the way.
Small cups = more refills = happier kids and a busier jar. We went with simple paper cups that were easy to recycle.
We taped a one-page flyer to the front of the table with a little about the charity and a QR code linking to their donate page. Here's an editable version you can make your own — drop in your cause and your QR code and print.