With a budding entrepreneurial spirit, eleven-year-old Aurelia Hall recognized potential in going door-to-door in her neighborhood selling whatever seemed like it might have a market – including trinkets like buttons, beads, and even roofing nails.

But when her mother, Lisa, suggested Aurelia sell something that people might enjoy a bit more, Aurelia took the advice to heart. She talked it over with a neighbor friend and came up with a brilliant plan in June of 2023.

“It was very spur of the moment,” Lisa said. “She came into the house and said, ‘we’re going to do a lemonade stand tomorrow!’”

“I wanted to help people who don’t have a lot of money,” Aurelia said. She enlisted more friends, who helped create and post homemade signs at the entrance to their north side Appleton subdivision. A helpful neighbor advertised the event on a neighborhood Facebook page, helping to fuel even more interest.

“I came home and there were 50 people in our front yard – I don’t know what happened,” said her father and Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin Board Member, Eric Hall.

Aurelia decorated her stand with a cheerful tablecloth, and a neighbor supplied chocolate chip cookies to sell along with the lemonade. Aurelia didn’t stop there – she also curated a museum of intriguing treasures – such as raccoon bones – and opened it to visitors who made a donation.

“She included anything she thought was rare – some coins I’d given her, some books from when we visited the British Museum, rocks from Lake Superior,” Eric said. Additionally, with an excess inventory of unique drawings on hand, Aurelia decided to put some up for sale, offering her original artwork at $10 apiece.

Aurelia’s sale raised $165 for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, enough to provide 660 meals to local families facing hunger. Aurelia said the best part about helping the organization is “it feels good that you did something nice.”

Aurelia’s efforts had other ripple effects: Another friend was inspired to hold a lemonade stand for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin later in the summer. Aurelia is no stranger to philanthropy. For her birthday, which is right before Thanksgiving, Aurelia collected non-perishable food items for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin instead of receiving presents from her classmates.

“We talked about it and said we’re pretty blessed with what we have, and it’s a way to give to others,” Lisa said. “And she was very willing to do that.”

Aurelia said she liked the idea “because there’s a lot of people who need food.” She invited both fourth grade classes at her school – 39 students – who had recently been learning about service projects. “We want to make sure that Aurelia understands that what we have is unusual,” said Eric, a military veteran and CEO of Gateway Financial Partners in Downtown Appleton. “We don’t have to think about if we’re going to have dinner or if a roof is over our head. But a lot of people do, and we want to make sure we’re doing something in our community to help out.”

Aurelia encourages others to “give to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin so they can take you on a tour of how everything works and show you how they give food to people.”

In June of 2024, Aurelia held her lemonade stand once again, enlisting neighbor kids to assist throughout the day. This year, the fundraiser featured a slip-and-slide as well as a puppy petting station with the family’s yellow Labrador. She raised $309.

“We used real lemons, and the weather was perfect,” Aurelia said.

With each cup poured and every life touched, Aurelia Hall has proven that true heroism lies not in grand gestures or flashy powers, but in the quiet strength of unwavering generosity. In a world that often hands you lemons, Aurelia stands as a reminder that even the smallest acts of kindness can turn them into lemonade, offering hope and nourishment to those that need it most.