Michael Poggiali and his son Nathan often see commercials for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, located in Memphis, TN.
Like many who see the commercials of kids who are suffering from life-threatening diseases, they wanted to do something special. Nathan, who’s 6 years old, came up with an idea all on his own.
“I was showing him some videos of St. Jude’s and what they do,” Michael said. “He said, ‘Why don’t we make a lemonade stand?’ He painted it and we had a print shop do the banner, called Kids Helping Kids.”
So the Poggiali family went to work right away. They went to Lowe’s, purchased the materials needed to make the stand and the rest, as they say, is history.
Nathan, a first-grader at Jackson Elementary School, raised $500 in just five hours of running his lemonade stand on a Saturday in late August. The success is largely thanks to the local community, including the owners of J&M Auto Repair in Syosset, Randy and Mike, who asked dozens of people to stop by the Poggialis’ home on Woodbridge Lane in Jericho.
To top it off, members of the local law enforcement even showed up to get a fresh cup of lemonade, as did people throughout the Town of Oyster Bay.
“
We’re going to mail them [St. Jude’s] a check this week,” Michael said. “We had a lot of people from the town come out.”
This all started thanks to a beautiful, bold conversation between a father and his son.
“He said, ‘Daddy, I want to donate,’” Michael explained. “We’re grateful that we have a healthy son.”
