From what Wallyhood readers have shared this week, there were plenty of examples of visitors to our neighborhood not being their best selves during the Fourth of July celebrations. Fortunately, some of our smaller residents were inspired to acts of kindness on the Fourth. Which makes me, for one, proud to be a Wallingfordian.
Wallingford residents Sebastian, age 8, and Sofi, age 5, hosted their fourth annual fundraiser for the Whale Museum at Friday Harbor on the afternoon of the 4th, offering homemade lemonade and brownies to passersby with the hopes of raising enough funds to adopt a whale. Sofi made the brownies, their mom made the lemonade and Sebastian was the primary salesman, eagerly educating his customers (and this blogger) about why he and his sister were raising money. He said,
Whales are endangered and I feel like nobody’s caring for them. People need to know that there are animals living in the ocean. They need to take care of the ocean. How would you like it if people threw garbage into your house?
Sebastian spoke quite eloquently about other threats to whales that concern him including naval sonar, water pollution, chemicals and human waste. He plans to continue his lemonade stand “for years to come” and maybe to expand it so that he and Sofi can help address these problems. They are looking forward to a family camping trip to San Juan Island later this summer, where they will pick a new whale to adopt with their amazing $77.91 in lemonade stand proceeds.
A few blocks away, seven year old Anders and five year old Juliet also hosted a lemonade stand for charity, with FamilyWorks Food Bank receiving their hard-earned donations. Anders and Juliet teamed up with the idea of helping hungry people and cheerfully explained their goal to their customers. Their best sale came from the police officer who was stationed at the end of their block and contributed $10 to their cause. Anders and Juliet were delighted to drop off their donation to FamilyWorks on July 5th and to see the food bank first hand.
Jessica, mother of these two young philanthropists, wrote:
I know there are a lot of young entrepreneurs out there, but I think it would be awesome if next July 4th, more of the Wallingford neighborhood lemonade stands could support local charities.
Jessica, challenge accepted! Who else is in? And who has a good brownie recipe that I can borrow?
My kids and the other neighbor kids raised about $30 on 4th of July and the money will be donated to FamilyWorks.
If Sebastian and Sofi can contact me through Wallyhood, I may be able to help them realize the dream of helping whales in the San Juans. I’m part of a founding family of the Whale Museum, and also continuing connections today to help lower the escalated mortality rate of the Puget Sound resident Orca population. I could probably arrange for some amazing, appreciative introductions when Sebastian and Sofi are in the San Juans. What might be the best way to make contact?
thank you, Wallyhood for telling us these stories. We can look forward to a better year ahead.
Nice stories! Maybe next July 1 or thereabouts, Wallyhood could put out the word about where the lemonade stands are. I’d be more than happy to make the rounds. Of course, I suppose it’s too much to hope for that we would have two nice 4th’s in a row.
Sally, I am seb and sofi’s mom. We would love ro be in touch with you. Thank you for your kind offer! Kimberly the author of this piece has my email address so pls do make contact. Thanks!!