After Lemonade Stand Robbery, Community and Famous Author Rally to Help Boy
— -- A Virginia teenager who opened a lemonade stand this summer so he could earn money to buy a dog saw the good in the world after something very bad happened: his lemonade stand was robbed.
It all started when 13-year-old Spencer Bergman, of Round Hill, Virginia, asked his mother for a puppy.
“She said to save up $500 and I thought I could do that,” Spencer told ABC News.
The seventh-grader, who recruited a friend, also named Spencer, to help him, was well on his way to $500 when a man robbed their stand, taking all the money they had raised that day. The incident was reported to Loudoun authorities, but no one has been arrested, according to a Washington Post report.
“We were bursting into tears,” Spencer Bergman said.
As news of the robbery spread, people began finding their way to the boys’ lemonade stand and donating way more than the price of one lemonade.
“People would hand in a $20 and they would let us keep the change,” Spencer said.
The boys also received a $15 donation – and life lesson – tucked inside the pre-teen favorite book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” The book came from a local music shop owner with a note that read, “Please don’t lose faith in people.”
“It was pretty exciting,” said Spencer’s friend, Spencer Tarbet.
The boys’ story reached the book’s author, Jeff Kinney, who Skyped with the two Spencers and sent them a $150 donation.
An even bigger – and priceless – donation soon came from one of the boys’ neighbors. The neighbor donated a dog named Coconut for free, saving him from going to the pound.
Spencer was just shy of reaching his $500 goal when the dog arrived. Thanks to the generosity of others, he now plans to use his lemonade stand money on Coconut.
“We’re using it for food and for his Halloween costume and all those cool things," Spencer said.
