The brother-sister duo of Gavin and Grace Gibson’s lemonade stand in their Northwood neighborhood is more than the stuff of summertime tradition – it has raised more than $700 for fabric that will become blankets for local hospitalized children.
That’s because the Gibson siblings know what it’s like to be in a hospital.
Gavin, 10, had wanted to have a lemonade stand, but it was the experience that Grace, 8, had in February that led to a mission. “When I was in the hospital, I saw how all the nurses were nice with all the kids, and I thought maybe I should help,” she said.
Gavin also had been hospitalized, a year earlier.
So they came up with Project Warming Hearts. “We picked the name because we warm hearts by helping children and giving them blankets to be warm and comforted,” Grace said.
The Gibson family – including mother Ginger and father Gary – spread the word about the project ahead of the siblings setting up their stand. On the day of the lemonade sale in June, the Gibsons raised $550 in donations. “We have very generous family and friends,” Ginger said.
Word spread further. They set up their stand one more time, on Aug. 2. They raised $186, for a two-day total of $736.
“There were a lot more new faces this time,” Ginger said. “As with the last one, when they found out what [Grace and Gavin] were doing, they gave more.”
The money is being used to buy fleece, which is already being made into blankets by cutting a fringe and tying them. Grace and Gavin are doing the work, helped by their grandfather, Gary Gibson. The blankets will be distributed to kids in Nationwide Children’s Hospital-Toledo and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio. The kids then can take the blankets home.
The Gibsons have no idea how many blankets they’ll provide. “We are going to purchase as much fleece as we can and make as many as possible,” Ginger said, adding that the family hopes to provide at least 75.
Grace and Gavin’s parents, both of them physical therapists, said there’ll be another lemonade stand day if there’s time before the siblings return to school.
“We’re really proud of them for putting others above themselves,” Ginger said of how she and her husband feel about what Grace and Gavin have done and are doing. “All the money they get [from the stand] goes to blankets. That’s a pretty great thing for kids their age.”
