SASKATOON - In the spirit of community, the Saskatoon Berries offered an incredible gesture to a seven-year-old Saskatoon girl who was robbed of her product and cash at the lemonade stand she had set up on July 24.
It was a story that went viral, released by the Saskatoon Police Service. A little girl’s lemonade stand was robbed with the villains taking juice, money and candy. While the suspects were arrested, the fact remained that the young entrepreneur had her hard work stolen from her.
The Berries baseball team put a call out on their social media, stating, “Jam Fam, we’re not gonna let a couple rotten berries ruin this gal’s summer. Maddy and her big sister will have their lemonade stand set up at our game, tomorrow, (July 25) in the plaza. Let’s show her how sweet we all know Saskatoon can be.”
When fans and supporters saw the invite to the Berry Patch for July 25 game, a number of comments resulted on the post including, “You are knocking it out of the park with your community involvement.” “You hit a grand slam on this one.” Responders were all anxious to be part of the solution that the Berries were presenting.
News of the unfortunate incident spread quickly and so did actions to right the wrong as community members jumped on board a GoFundMe. According to the Maddy “had just bought and painted her lemonade stand and was excited to have lemonade sales.” By late afternoon of July 24 more than $2,400 was already raised, exceeding their $500 goal.
The GoFundMe statement also noted that the little girl was born with a number of congenital defects at birth and in her short seven years, she has had a number of medical procedures to correct them.
Both the Berries baseball gesture and the GoFundMe are clear indications of the power of community and will go a long way to share humanity and let this little girl and her family know that there are still good people who do good deeds in the world.
Interestingly enough, Thursday games for the Saskatoon Berries are often referred to as Thirsty Thursdays, and judging by comments online, fans are ready to indulge in some lemonade to pay it forward to a young entrepreneur, as well reaffirming that the baseball team hit a homer on this amazing gesture.
