Bluffton kids want to help a friend in need. Drink some lemonade and give them a hand

If you're in Bluffton on Thursday, you're gonna want some lemonade.

But not just any lemonade.

This lemonade — the kind Arden and Ellamae Brown will be pouring during the Bluffton Farmers Market. You'll find their stand in front of The Store on Calhoun Street.

There, you might see a sign that reads, "Lemonade for friends, please donate."

Arden, 11, and Ellamae, 10, have a good friend who just lost her Bluffton house to a fire last week. That friend confided to Arden that the Nanny Cove Road blaze had claimed the money she'd received for Christmas.

"(S)he lost it all," Arden said Wednesday afternoon, "and we'd really like to give it back to her."

Mitch Brown said his daughters have sold lemonade before and came up with the idea for the fundraiser themselves. The gesture made him tear up. On Saturday, he posted a picture of the girls working a stand last year on Facebook to help spread the word.

"Bluffton Friends," the post reads, "this is totally Arden and Ellamae’s idea ... but since they don’t have access to social media, I’m helping spread the word .... Every penny from the stand is going to ... Ellamae’s classmate ... .Mid afternoon on Thursday, you and all your friends will be hot and thirsty, I’m sure! Swing by the market for a refreshing, ice cold lemonade, and let’s make Christmas happen in July for a wonderful little girl."

The post has been shared 96 times.

"Great kids!" one person replied. "#proudteacher"

Another Bluffton resident, Anna Sharp, replied with a picture of another lemonade fundraiser stand, this one staffed by her children — Taylor, 12, and Wells, 13 — and her niece and nephew — Olivia Wells, 13, and Stone Wells, 12 — on Monday in Stock Farm.

"They took it upon themselves," Sharp said Wednesday, adding the kids had also gathered up some stuffed animals and gift cards for the family affected by the fire.

She estimated the kids received north of $40 in tips and donations.

When asked how they decided on setting up a lemonade stand fundraiser for their friend, Ellamae said: "It's easy — you just pour a cup of lemonade and give it to the customer."

A simple gesture.

An easy thing to do.

Just being a friend.

The Bluffton Farmers Market is open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday.

This story was originally published July 11, 2018 at 5:19 PM.