Children at The Special Learning Center turned 5 gallons of lemonade into hundreds of dollars for disaster relief Tuesday morning.
Participants in Camp Jade - the annual week-long camp honoring Jade Renkemeyer, who attended the school from 2000 until her death in 2005 - sold lemonade and baked products at a stand at the center on Fairgrounds Road in Jefferson City.
The event was very successful, according to Heather Renkemeyer, Jade's mother and director of The Special Learning Center Foundation.
Several "grandmas" for campers showed up and made special donations, Renkemeyer said.
The lemonade stand raised about $900, she added.
The center, which is a nonprofit United Way agency, provides early intervention services for children with developmental delays and disabilities. Each year, the center provides its students opportunities to get involved in a myriad of activities they otherwise may not participate in.
Camp Jade usually includes sports, drama and dance classes, bowling, gymnastics, crafts and events at the library. But the children wanted to help their neighbors.
"The kids made their own signs," Renkemeyer said. "They've been out by the street, getting people's attention."
Several of the campers would collect donations and run plastic cups of lemonade down to people in their cars.
And when family members arrived, they jumped and clapped and shared their lemonade.