Last month, Taegan Jacobs had the urge to help his 8-year-old younger brother. His idea was simple – sell lemonade.
The result is still something the entire family can’t wrap their heads around.
"I think we have raised about $13,000 from just lemonade stands,” said Kara Jacobs, Taegan’s mother.
Kara Jacobs is also a mom to two other boys, including Zane, who was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy four years ago. The rare genetic disorder is slowly eating away Zane’s muscles and eventually will make him unable to walk.
“He seems to be progressing a little bit faster than we thought he would,” said Kara Jacobs.
While Zane just received his first wheelchair last week, the family needs another $50,000 for a new wheelchair-accessible van. So far, lemonade stands have been a vital contributor to meeting their goal.
“Every time we setup a lemonade stand the community is there,” said Kara Jacobs. “We get home. We go through the money and there was a hundred dollar bill in there … There’s been a lot of people that we didn’t know. A lot of businesses we didn’t know were out there.”
The Jacobs family has had roughly a dozen lemonade stands in Eudora, Lawrence and St. Mary’s, Kansas over the summer. On Wednesday, the women of ‘Medissage’ in Lawrence supplied all the goods for the family to sell at their location.
The Jacobs have also raised several thousand dollars on a GoFundMe page.
While there is no cure for Zane’s disease, Kara Jacobs takes great comfort in knowing their local community, and several complete strangers, have reached out to help her son.
“It’s absolutely amazing to feel like people care about you and your family. This disease, for parents and families, is very lonely,” she said.
The next lemonade stand for Zane will be Saturday, August 13 in Eudora at the Eudora Parks and Rec Center located at 1630 Elm St. Local police and fire departments will be present, along with a ‘Prime Martial Arts’ show and a magician. Events start at 4 p.m.
You can follow Zane’s progress on his Facebook page, Zane’s Minions.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
