A young writer in Green Valley got a sweet helping hand from a local lemonade vendor last week.
Nora Jacoby, 10, is the author of “The Four Princesses,” a story of princesses who share their talents to help a new friend. Last Tuesday, Nora started a lemonade stand outside her house to raise funds to cover the cost of self-publishing her book on Amazon.
Then a local business owner, just like the characters in Nora’s story, stepped in to do some good.
Kevin Shaffer, founder and CEO of Uncle Kebba’s Lemonade in Alexandria, donated several batches of lemonade, a juice press, a canopy tent and other resources to Nora’s stand after her mother, Maria Jacoby, reached out to him.
“I’ve been wanting to do something like this for about two years, because at my markets, I’ll have parents say all the time, ‘Oh, my kids are doing a lemonade stand next week,'” Shaffer told ARLnow. “I always thought it would be so nice to be able to give back and help young entrepreneurs.”
Maria Jacoby said her family was “blown away” by Shaffer’s generosity. Initially, she only inquired about his lemonade, but Shaffer kept returning to the stand each day to offer more supplies, like the tent and fruit-flavored syrups. He also bought himself a cup.
“The level of proactive kindness is not something we see every day,” Maria Jacoby said. “It was really sweet and special.”
Shaffer’s supplies and support were certainly helpful to Nora, who spent four to five hours each day serving cups of lemonade in the heat.
Maria Jacoby said that with Shaffer’s help, her daughter raised about $400 within a week, enough to cover an illustrator and other publishing fees. The stand’s last day was this Tuesday, Aug. 6.
The young writer hopes to begin selling copies of “The Four Princesses” this fall.
“When I was younger, I always had dreams about this,” Nora said. “Then, I just decided to put it on a piece of paper.”
