Gainesville girl selling lemonade, giving it to officers and first responders for free

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WGFL) — A 9-year-old in Gainesville is on a mission to help her family and first responders with a small business.

“In the summer time it usually be hot,” said lemonade stand owner Te’yah Alston. “So people might want to pass right by and get some lemonade and everyone loves lemonade on a nice, hot day.”

Little Te’yah has two missions on her summer break: relieving her family financially and refreshing our community’s first responders.

“Sometimes my mom doesn’t have enough money for things like my cheerleading tryouts and stuff like that,” Te’yah said. “I was thinking to do it for my cheerleading tryouts because it’s a lot of money to pay and I could probably help her out.”

This was a job Te’yah wasn’t asked to do, but this 9-year-old stepped up to the challenge.

“It makes it a lot easier,” said Kim Alston, Te’yah’s mom. “She’s been in competitive cheerleading for a few years and it does get pretty pricey.”

In the last three days, Te’yah raised just under two hundred dollars—even while making sure our first responders are refreshed for free.

“She just notices what they do for people everyday,” Alston said. “When she wanted to do that I was like ‘wow, she really notices what these people do for us every day of their life.’ Words just can’t describe how it feels when your child wants to do something like this.”

“They can save us from dangerous people,” Te’yah said. “That’s why I wanted to give like the ambulance and police officers free lemonade.”

If you’d like to support Te’yah’s business, drop by her stand on NE 11th Ter. in Gainesville.

Te'yah says she wants to stay up and running until her cheerleading costs are met, then just see how far she can go.

Once school is back in session, she's planning on being open for the weekends.