After a 6-year-old boy saw his school collecting money to buy wheelchairs for a charity that sends them overseas to developing countries, he had the idea that maybe he could buy his own wheelchair for donating. He couldn’t even pronounce the word “philanthropist”, but he became the poster boy definition of one.
Zach Francom’s lemonade and cookie stand is now in its fifth year of charity work and his efforts have to date paid for nearly 250 wheelchairs.
The annual event, staged over a single weekend around spring break in front of his family’s home, has become a Provo, Utah institution.
This past April, Zack sold 350 dozen cookies baked by his mom, Nancy Bird, and 80 quarts of lemonade, earning $5,300 – enough to buy another 37 wheelchairs (basic models now cost $143), which are shipped by LDS Philanthropies to Guatemala, Guam and 53 other countries, where a wheelchair can often cost more than a year’s wages.
His fundraising hub is online at ItFeelsGreatToGive.com and on the Zach’s Shack Facebook page.
(READ more from PEOPLE magazine – and WATCH the video below)
Photo courtesy of LDS Philanthropies
Great idea, great kid, great-looking cookies and lemonade!