Madison girls planning annual Lemonade for St. Jude on July 12

MADISON – Two local girls in fifth and sixth grade are selflessly using time during their summer break to raise money for a great cause.

Landri Kruse and Maelin-Kate Carlson have manned their own lemonade stand every year since 2022. They have been using their proceeds to help raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “We get local bakeries and Chick-fil-A to donate some stuff, and we sell those and lemonade, and you can get any baked good or lemonade with any donation,” said Sixth Grader Landri.

This year’s Lemonade Stand for St. Jude will be held July 12 at their neighborhood clubhouse, 116 Bayberry Lane, Madison 35758. That is in the Heritage Station subdivision.

For Maelin, this hard work is to help other children, like her, in need of treatment to improve their health.

“I’m a St Jude patient, and they saved my life, so I want to return the favor by helping all the kids,” said Fifth Grader Maelin-Kate.

Maelin-Kate’s mom said that St. Jude stepped up to help Maelin through a treatment they had never done at their facility before. When she was five years old, Maelin-Kate was diagnosed with a rare genetic blood disorder.

“We were told Maelin had hip dysplasia,” Megan said. The Carlsons scheduled a series of hip surgeries. Before the first surgery, they took Maelin-Kate for pre-surgery labs, which revealed abnormalities.

Their pediatrician scheduled an appointment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “By the grace of God, a doctor at the clinic had worked in Minnesota in the Fanconi Anemia Clinic. She spotted the signs in Maelin right away and ordered the correct test for diagnosis. It’s an extremely rare genetic blood disease most doctors haven’t heard of,” Megan said.

St. Jude performed the needed bone marrow transplant in 2019.

“We travel to St. Jude’s every six months for treatment. She’ll probably go there for the rest of her life because we can’t cure her disease,” said Maelin-Kate’s Mom, Megan Carlson. “They truly stepped up, and they performed a transplant for a disease they had never done a transplant for; she was the first one. They went through all the protocols and all the treatments, and they educated the doctors and nurses so she could have her transplant there.”

In 2021, NBC’s “Today” show featured Maelin-Kate’s story and how St. Jude’s saved her life.

The two friends started their initial lemonade stand with a goal of raising $400 for St. Jude’s. They have so far raised over $8,000. They are hopeful this year’s stand will add to that number.

Landri’s mom said that through their lemonade stand and hard work, they are inspiring their community while helping others.

“I feel like they are both a big inspiration to a lot of people,” said Landri’s Mom, Elizabeth Kruse. “The first year they wanted to stay out all day, and they loved it. They hustled. It was hot and they were sweaty, and then they couldn’t wait to do it the next year. Last year it was bigger, and they worked even harder and raised even more money than we could have ever dreamed, and they can’t wait to do it again this year.”

Maelin-Kate said that when people support their lemonade stand, it makes her happy, and she is excited for the next one.

“All our friends and neighbors come here to the lemonade stand,” Maelin-Kate said. “We have our lemonade stand by the pool. I say donations for St. Jude, and they just empty out their pockets, and we give them lemonade. And also, last year, Landri’s mom talked to local bakeries, and we got some treats for all the neighbors and friends.”

The community response to the lemonade stand has been enthusiastic, and many adults close to Landri and Maelin-Kate have worked to help support them.

“It’s just amazing, each year it gets bigger and bigger,” said Elizabeth. “They’ve gotten their orthodontist involved, the teachers at their school and assistant principal have been a huge help just getting the word out. It’s amazing to watch the community come together to support them, crushing their goals. It is just nice to see them all working together to support the girls who are supporting St Jude.”

The girls have spent a lot of their time planning and thinking about their lemonade stand, and they now look forward to it every year.

“Now they’ve got the bug, and they talk about it a lot,” Megan said. “I car-pool them to school in the mornings, and they talk about it all year long, and they’re talking about being little old ladies in the nursing home doing their lemonade stand. They are committed, and we are just going to support them as long as we can, because we’re so proud of them and how much hard work they put into it.”

There are a lot of things that Landry and Maelin-Kate do to prepare for their lemonade stand.

“We reach out to businesses and ask them to donate, and we’re making posters, signs, T-shirts and stickers,” Landri said. “We serve lemonade, and we will run up to the street and hold up our posters and do stuff like that.”

The girls are also looking for ways to improve their product, including adding a little pizzazz to the lemonade.

“They’re adding a lot this year, we had boba last year, and Landry wanted to do edible glitter this year to make the lemonade even more sparkly. So, they keep coming up with ideas to make it bigger and better,” said Elizabeth.

With all the fun, giving back to St. Jude is also a reminder for the Carlson family of what St. Jude has done for Maelin-Kate.

“We’re just so grateful that she’s doing so well. She’s healthy, she’s in regular school, and she’s doing all the things that we’ve dreamed for her to do. So to be able to give back to St. Jude, that’s just what keeps us going, that’s our heartbeat. We love so much what their mission is, and we just want to help and save as many kids as we possibly can and show our appreciation,” Megan said.