Pay It Forward: Olivia’s Lemonade Stand
CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIDK/KXPI) - A girl turned 9-years-old this past weekend, but instead of celebrating, she had something else in mind. To help make it happen, KIDK Eyewitness News 3 and Mountain America Credit Union wanted to Pay It Forward.
"It's a special day for two reasons. Reason one is, it's my birthday. The second is because I'm having a food drive. Instead of having a party with friends and getting presents, I want to donate food to the local food bank, and I need your help. Everyone that donates food will be served a glass of my famous lemonade," said Olivia Smith her a video posted to Facebook.
That lemonade comes from Olivia's famous lemonade stand. She is no stranger to fundraisers. News anchor Todd Kunz first met Olivia when she setup her lemonade stand at the yearly Walk to End Alzheimer's in Idaho Falls. This time, she and her brother Jack had even bigger aspirations.
You know what that means.
"It's time to Pay It Forward," said Kory Carling tying some balloons to a can of food.
Carling is with Mountain America Credit Union. He has the can of food for a donation and the balloons for Olivia's birthday. He also has another big surprise.
"Here you go. You Ready?" said Kunz.
"We're ready. Let's do this," said Carling.
"This is about to get really fun," said Kunz.
The two left the parking lot and walked up to the curbside lemonade stand.
"We'd like some lemonade," said Kunz.
"Right over here. They'll help you out," said Travis Smith, Olivia's father.
"Where's Olivia and Jack?" asked Kunz.
"Oliva and Jack, how are you?" said Carling.
"Good," said Olivia.
"Good. I heard it's your birthday and with that, we are here to donate some food for your birthday as well, but also because you're so awesome and you have a kind heart for you community. I'm here on behalf of Mountain America Credit Union. And I am here with $500 cash that we would like to Pay It Forward to you for all your good stuff you're doing for your community and to continue to keep Paying It Forward with your kind heart with both you and Jack," said Carling, pulling the cash out of an envelope.
"Thank you," said Olivia.
"And all that you're doing for the community so thank you for all that you're doing. And you can buy a lot of food with that to donate," said Carling.
After her food drive wrapped up, Travis said The Salvation Army estimated they received enough food to feed around 15 families for two weeks because of her donations. And they donated the cash directly to the Idaho Food Bank.
"Pay It Forward" airs the second Wednesday of every month. If you know of a nonprofit organization or someone who deserves to be recognized for their contributions to the area, click on "News" then "Pay It Forward" under the menu stack at the top left of our homepage. Fill out the submission form, or send an email to KIDK Eyewitness News 3 anchor Todd Kunz at todd.kunz@kidk.com.
