KINGFIELD, Maine —
We’re well past lemonade season, but for the community in Kingfield, Ava Dionne has been serving up an ice-cold drink they will never refuse.
“At first people weren’t sure what she was raising the money for,” her aunt, Taylor Jordan, said.
Perched outside her grandparents' business, Jordan Lumber, Ava was eager to tell them her plan.
“They would get their wallet back out” when they heard that 100 percent of the proceeds were going to the family of Maxx Hathaway, one of the victims of the Lewiston mass shooting.
On Oct. 25, a shooter walked into both Just-in-Time Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille and killed 18 people.
When Kate Dionne first heard the news, she wasn’t sure how to explain it to her daughter, nor did she know how Ava, at only 5 years old, would react.
To her surprise, it sparked the same desire in Ava we saw from communities far and wide. She wanted to help.
“One of these horrible things happened to this family that had two little girls around Ava’s age,” Kate said, speaking about Maxx Hathaway.
Hathaway was 35 years old and was killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille. He left behind his wife, who is pregnant, and his two young daughters.
When Ava heard the story, “she told her Aunt she wanted to raise money for the little girls who lost their daddy,” grandmother Kim Jordan said.
Although at such a young age, Ava might not understand the scope of the tragedy, she does understand the help a little bit of extra cash can bring.
“What Ava wanted was to make these little girls have a happy heart, and by having a happy heart, it meant being able to go out and buy some toys.”
Kim says it’s a feeling Ava knows all too well after hosting her own lemonade stand this past summer. “She saw that selling pink lemonade, she got money and could go to Walmart and buy things that made her happy.”
Now she wants to give that same feeling to the Hathaway children.
“I like toys and toys make me happy, so I’m going to give them all that money so they can buy toys,” Ava says.
Except, what she’s raised for Maxx’s daughters will buy them much more than a few toys.
“We were thinking, for two hours at Jordan Lumber Company, because people are going to be generous due to the circumstances, she’d raise a couple hundred dollars,” says her grandmother, Kim Jordan.
As word spread throughout the community and on Facebook, Ava’s Pink Lemonade became a hot commodity. At times, she would have a line of up to 15 people waiting to buy from her.
“It’s 20 bucks a glass, right?” one customer asked as he looked at the sign clearly stating ‘25 cents’ and throws a bill in the coin jar.
By the end of the two hours, she had made well over $900. And even now that Ava’s no longer pouring lemonade, the donations haven’t stopped pouring in.
“I’m still getting checks from people in my mailbox,” Ava’s mother said. "We can't go to the grocery store without people trying to give us money," her grandmother added.
The success going so far, it even inspired her own family to join in on the efforts, with a very generous offer.
“When I told my husband how much money our granddaughter had raised, he asked me what my thought was about matching the funds she had raised, and I said that would be great," Ava's grandmother said.
In total, with the match from her grandparents, Ava has raised just over $7,000.
"We know this isn't going to take the pain away and it will never take the pain away," her grandmother said.
To Ava and her family, the money is a gesture they hope will provide the Hathaway family at least a little comfort in their time of need.
"The money won't give them back their dad, but it will give them something to look forward to."
It is also a reminder: "In these terrible instances, there is always light," her aunt said.