Angry Neighbor Confronts Boy and Tries To Destroy His Lemonade Stand Then The Cops Show Up.
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Setting up a lemonade stand and selling the delicious ice cold drink to people who pass by during the summer is a childhood tradition that many of us have partaken in. It’s a fun way for young kids to interact with the neighbors and learn about business all while making a little bit of money. This was especially true for one 8 year old boy in Missouri named Jacob.
All he had wanted for his birthday was a lemonade stand so that he could raise money to help buy his mother an air conditioner for her car. While she loved the idea, she urged him to use any money he earned for a more meaningful idea that was closer to his heart, and so he chose to donate it to a local church missionary group instead.
According to Gina Martin, Jacob’s mother, as soon as his lemonade stand was finally set up, he busied himself selling 50 cent cups of freshly squeezed lemonade. From the start his business was going well and everyone was happy. That all changed one Friday afternoon when an angry looking man approached Jacob’s stand. The man aggressively demanded to know whether or not they had a food handler’s permit.
Sensing the man’s hostility, Gina sent her son inside while she talked to the man. She asked him if he worked for the city, to which he replied that he did not, but that as a customer he wanted to know who he should go to in case he got sick from drinking the lemonade.
As she dealt with the irate man, Gina was told that in Clay County Missouri, where she resided, a temporary food permit is needed for anyone who is preparing, serving, or selling food. The cost for a permit lasting 1-3 days is $50, but that’s only if you apply more than 2 weeks in advance.
Even though the customer wasn’t a city employee, he nonetheless insisted that Jacob needed a permit to sell lemonade from his stand. If he failed to get one, the man warned Gina that he’d call the police and have them it shut down. Meanwhile, another person had joined the man and they both started to get angry and more confrontational over the issue.
Not sure what she should do or whether the man was even telling the truth, Gina turned to Facebook and posted about the issue to see if anyone could help her out. People saw her post and shared it with their friends and family, and before long the community had mobilized behind Jacob and his mother.
The next day Jacob woke up to a bunch of people in the street outside of his house. At first, he thought there was an emergency but then he realized that all the people were actually customers who had come to buy lemonade from him!
Not only had the entire fire department come with their ladder engines, so had the county sheriff, local police, metro security, EMTs, and ambulances. All the emergency responders in the area had come out in full force to support him!
Before they left, they even gave Jacob a seal of approval and temporary permit. It was really just a piece of paper with the word “permit” written on it next to pictures of police and fire department badges, but it meant the world to Jacob and his mother.
By the end of the summer, he raised an impressive $343 which he donated to missionaries at his church. Perhaps more importantly, he learned that he had a whole lot of support behind what he was doing and that no single angry busy body could shut him down for purely hypothetical and spiteful reasons.
Watch the video below for the full story:
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Policeman Buys a Drink At THIS Girl’s Lemonade Stand. He Comes Back 1 Day Later With The Most Unexpected Surprise!
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Police officers are oftentimes viewed through a double lens. They help communities out and enforce the law, but not everyone always feels so safe around them. That’s why it’s important for cops to do community policing where they interact with residents regularly and not just in emergencies or on the worst day of someone’s life. By establishing connections and getting to know people they can make a much bigger impact and earn resident’s trust. This story out of Lake County Ohio goes to show how one officer’s friendly chat with a little girl made all the difference in both his life and hers.
The little girl’s name is Gabrielle and she had her heart set on getting an iPad for school and playing games. When she asked her mother, Melissa, for one she was told that they couldn’t afford it at the moment. Instead of giving up, Gabrielle decided to start a lemonade stand and buy one herself with the profits. Upon hearing that her mother was happy, the stand would keep her daughter busy and teach her the value of money. There was one problem though, the area where they lived was kind of rural and not many people passed by. However, Gabrielle’s grandmother lived nearby at a busy condo complex where people came and went all day long, it was the perfect location.
Excited to start her business right away, Gabrielle gathered up all the things she’d need for the stand and whipped up a batch of fresh lemonade. From the very start business was booming and early on a cop pulled up to her stand. He paid her $3 for a cup of lemonade, well over her asking price of 0.50 cents, and told her that he would let the other officers know about her refreshing business.
Soon afterwards another cop pulled up, this time it was 22 year-old Zach Ropos. He purchased a lemonade and asked Gabrielle what she planned on doing with the money she made from her stand. She told him how she wanted to get an iPad to help with school and that answer, along with her obvious work ethic, impressed him. While she was helping other customers, Officer Ropos spoke with her mother and told her that he had an old iPad at home that he’d love to gift Gabrielle. However, when he got home later that night and plugged in the iPad he discovered it didn’t work.
The next day he headed back to break the bad news to Melissa but before he could Gabrielle ran up to his patrol car and started chatting away. He asked how business was going and she replied she’d made a few dollars but gave it to her mom because her gas tank was empty. Her selfless response affected Officer Ropos and he resolved then and there to get her the iPad she so badly wanted and deserved.
The next day he headed to a local store and asked the owner if they’d contribute towards a tablet for Gabrielle after he told them her story. They agreed and later that day he met up with Gabrielle and her family while they were watching her brother play football. Seeing his car pull up she ran to meet him and that was when he pulled out a pink bag and gave it to her. Gabrielle was thrilled and her mother was overjoyed at the kindness Officer Ropos showed her daughter. She snapped a picture of the two of them posing with the iPad and later that night posted it on Facebook. The picture quickly went viral, it was shared over 34 thousand times and people called for interviews and ran news stories on it.
In the end, Officer Ropos declined most of them, he never wanted any media attention, he just wanted to make a little girl happy.
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