Johnny Karlinchak: Boy Starts Lemonade Stand To Help Neighbors With Damaged House

Springfield, Virginia — Johnny Karlinchak may only be eight, but despite his age, he has given an outstanding example of how to pay it forward by starting a lemonade stand to help his neighbors with their damaged house.

The Myers family suffered a huge loss recently when a 60-foot oak tree fell on their house. Johnny, no stranger to loss himself, remembered the way his neighbors rose up to support his family after his six-year-old sister was killed in a car accident, reports The Washington Post. After his sister, Kelly, died four years ago, his neighbors raised $38,000 for a playground in her name.

Immediately after seeing the massive tree on Elissa Myers’ home, Johnny rushed to his piggy bank and gathered up his life savings, a total of five quarters, rushing them over to the Myers house.

Elissa later stated, according to The New York Daily News, that while she lost many things in the storm that she didn’t cry about, the “overwhelming kindness of Johnny did.”

But he did much more than simply giving Mrs. Myers $1.25. He appeared about an hour later on the sidewalk with a lemonade stand, sporting a sign that read, “Mrs. Myers building fund.” With the goal of $500 on the plate (the Myers’ insurance deductible for the $200,000 in damage to their home), Johnny Karlinchak may have been a bit disappointed by his first day’s earnings of $21.

He was not deterred though, and a few days later he made $108. Before too long, the 8-year-old boy was able to raise surpass his $500 goal, but still he continued to raise money for the Myers family, including their dog, who Johnny hopes to buy a new bed for, according to WTOP.

And it’s obvious that Johnny’s neighbors are getting into the giving spirit, thanks to the 8-year-old Springfield boy. Neighbor Marian McLaughlan told The New York Daily News that she purposefully overpaid for her treats, saying:

“I gave more than enough for my lemonade and two cookies. The other day I did the same…this is a wonderful neighborhood.”

Do you think that people like Johnny Karlinchak are becoming more and more rare? What would it take for you to raise money for a friend or neighbor in need?

[Images courtesy of The New York Daily News]