They’re Philanthropic Entrepreneurs

by Rachel Dahl Two local girls have taken to the business world in an effort to raise money to help victims of cancer. Lakota Casey and her friend Hazel Mackedon are fifth graders who for the past three years have run a lemonade/hot chocolate stand in their neighborhood, depending on the time of year. “We started it when we were six because we just wanted to help people with cancer,” said Mackedon. “My mom’s friend died of cancer,” said Casey. “She shaved her head when her friend was sick.” Mackedon’s grandmother, Deena Tucker, passed away from pancreatic cancer this summer and the girls said they just want to make sure they can help people who are going through hard times and try to make that a little easier. So far, they have held two hot chocolate stands, three lemonade stands, and one bake sale, and every time they donate the money they make to cancer. “Every time we have a lemonade stand or hot chocolate stand,” said Casey, “we always try to compete against our last stand. We try to make it better and make more money.” Mackedon said this stand was more about the business than in the past. “This one was really important to raise as much as we could for pancreatic cancer,” she said. The girls raised $50 at their first stand, and this time they were able to sell $200 worth of lemonade. “Most of the time we have supplies from the previous stand, we have this huge thing for lemonade and we always play music. Lakota’s dad built us this real lemonade stand,” said Mackedon. The stand is located on the corner of Manchester and Whitaker Lane when they are open. Lakota said they print out signs and put them all around and their parents post the locations on social media. “My grandpa used to work at the base and one year he told everyone, and we had like, 200 people come from the base.” The girls are making plans for a hot chocolate booth next and will decide later what organization those proceeds will benefit. Last year they donated to the children’s cancer fund and the year before that, they donated to a general cancer fund.     Never miss the local news -- read more on The Fallon Post home page. If you enjoy The Fallon Post, please support our effort to provide local, independent news and make a contribution today.  Your contribution makes possible this online news source for all things Fallon.