‘HEALING IN HOPE’

7-Year-Old Raises Nearly $10,000 Selling Lemonade to Pay for Mom’s Headstone

Emouree Johnson only charges $1 per glass, but some community members gave her $100 bills when they learned of her mission.

Emouree Johnson’s small commercial effort is no ordinary lemonade stand. The 7-year-old’s profits aren’t going toward toys or clothes or ice cream, but to help her family pay for a headstone for her mother, Karli Bordner, who passed away suddenly in early March at only 29 years old. Emouree started selling lemonade for $1 a cup on Friday, but after a post about her efforts went viral on social media last week, members of their Alabama community rallied to give Emouree extra tips to help her family reach their goal. Some neighbors gave $100 bills in exchange for the lemonade, and according to Emouree’s family, they’ve raised about $10,000 for the burial. A few monument companies, learning of Emouree’s efforts, offered to donate a headstone, meaning the funds raised can cover other funerary expenses. “All these people showing all this and trying to help, it’s actually helping heal the whole family,” Emouree’s grandmother, Jennifer Bordner, said.