This 10-year-old girl’s lemonade stand raised $15k for the most incredible reason

Seems as though lemonade stands have become quite profitable these days —including Mikaila Ulmer’s BeeSweet Lemonade that received a $60K investment from Shark Tank, and Na’ama Uzan’s lemonade stand that raised over $25K for research on a rare disorder. Now, another little girl has started an ultra-profitable lemonade stand of her own, and its proceeds are going toward something especially meaningful to her: her family.

Two years ago, in March of 2013, the De La Sala family’s home was burned down in a fire, requiring the family to rebuild the entire thing from scratch. But to make matters worse, they were reportedly scammed by their insurance company, and the house was never fully rebuilt.

However, the De Sala’s daughter, 10-year-old Alyssa, was determined to make her parents’ life better. She started a lemonade stand called “Help Us Get Home” with the assistance of her brother, Damien, to raise money. Selling strawberry lemonade and cupcakes, Alyssa was determined to make lemonade out of the lemons that the family had recently been handed.

Alyssa also wrote a letter to a radio station broadcast, “The Kane Show,” asking to advertise her lemonade stand that would be taking place this past Saturday. “[My house] burnt down 2 years ago…Now my mommy and daddy are stuck trying to come up with enough money to finish it so we can finally get home.”

Alyssa implored the radio station to raise awareness, sending a flyer along with the letter. “I hope you can help but if not, I understand,” she wrote, breaking our hearts.

The radio station advertised the stand, also reaching out to WFTS Tampa Bay.  And the turnout was so massive that officers had to direct traffic. “She took it upon herself to do something to help mommy and daddy, I don’t think she expected it to be anything like this either,” Alyssa’s mother, Jenn, explained to WFTS. “We are so amazed. We knew we had a good community –but when you see everyone here it is overwhelming, incredible.”

People traveled from far-away counties to donate hundreds, even a thousand dollars each for a cup of lemonade. Alyssa raised $15,000, all to go towards rebuilding the house. But strangers weren’t the only ones to give. The first responders from the fire showed up, and deputies reached out to businesses, who donated boxes of supplies to the family to be used for the house.

“I was totally amazed by the turnout,” Alyssa’s father told ABC. “There are a lot of people who are in a lot worse situations but to see people still come out and support us for what we’re going through it’s really amazing. I’m at a loss of words.”

As for Alyssa? “I’m speechless, overwhelmed. It’s amazing,” Alyssa told WFTS Tampa.

Alyssa, WE’RE speechless about your love and dedication towards your family, and your ingenuity and positivity in the face of heartbreak.

While the family did get a lot of support, they still haven’t raised all they need. If you want to help, go to the family’s GoFundMe for more information.

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