7 year old’s dreams of running lemonade stand comes to virtual fruition, raising thousands for charity

At home under a social distancing order, a 7 year old from Madison is turning lemons into lemonade, spreading joy one virtual cup at a time.

Morgan Marsh-McGlone has been counting the days until spring. Her parents told her only then would it be warm enough for her to open her very first lemonade stand.

“We could raise money for a nice organization, and that's probably what inspired me to do it,” Morgan said.

She said she and her friend had talked about the idea for two months. “That's very long,” she said. “We were really excited about it.”

Soon the coronavirus presented another obstacle. But instead of putting off her plan, Morgan decided there was no better time than now.

She created a

deciding the pay-what-you-can restaurant Little John’s should benefit from her fundraiser.

The first grader explained, "They give food to families who have food insecurity. Some stores just throw out the food, even though it's fine. Chef Dave says they can give it to him, and then he makes meals for families.”

Chef Dave Heide, founder of the restaurant and non-profit, said he felt “warm,” hearing about Morgan’s eagerness to help. “There's no motivation. There's no trying to promote her business. There's no anything. It's just she sees it's the right thing to do, and she does it.”

Still, it’s Morgan who’s saying “thank you” to her donors. Starting with a $90 goal, Morgan ended the first day of her fundraiser with more than $2,500 raised.

Morgan plans to mail out hand-drawn coupons that say “1 Free Lemonade” for donors to redeem in person. When it’s safe for everyone to meet face to face, Heide suggested Morgan come to his restaurant to run the stand, as he provides all the ingredients.