A nine-year-old girl is pouring her heart into a lemonade stand to raise funds for cancer research.
Tameika Smart’s mum, Emma, decided to cut her hip-length hair for Kids with Cancer Foundation’s Wigs4Kids, which motivated the pre-teen to help raise money for the cause.
She came to her mum with big ideas, including selling bookmarks and her old toys, before settling on a lemonade stand.
The cause is close to the family as Tameika’s grandmother died from cancer, and Emma survived cervical cancer.
“I was told I had between a one to 3 per cent chance of ever having a baby,” Emma told the Sound.
“Tameika knows that it’s because of me having cancer earlier on that she lost her little brother because of (a) very high-risk pregnancy.”
Ms Smart said Tameika had a loving heart and got the idea when she juiced homemade lemonade for her kids.
The family donated the ingredients and cups to Tameika to get her going, but now she has started buying her own.
After three days of running the stand, Tameika had raised $165.
“It’s been a great teachable moment for money, cost and profit for her also,” Ms Smart said.
“(I’m) so proud. She has run the stand for three days and has sold out on two of those days.
“Until she reaches her $500 goal, she wants to continue doing her lemonade stand.”
Donations can be made to Ms Smart’s shave here.