When a child wants to earn money but isn’t old enough to get a job at a business, there are certain options that are quite common. Perhaps a child might babysit, walk the neighbor’s dogs, or start a lemonade stand.
A little girl named Gabrielle decided that she needed to earn money, so she started a lemonade stand. It was summer, and her family was struggling financially. Instead of relying on her parents to buy her the things she wanted, she decided to work hard to save up herself.
One day, a police officer named Deputy Zach Ropos stopped by Gabrielle’s lemonade stand and bought some lemonade from her. While he was at her stand, he asked her what she planned to do with the money she earned. Her answer inspired him to do something extra nice for her, and the story ended up being shared on Facebook by Lake County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Frank Leonbruno.
In his post, Leonbruno explained that Gabrielle told Ropos that “she wanted to buy an IPad so she could play games on it and go on the Internet for school. She knew her family was having a very difficult time financially and she knew that she would have to work hard this summer selling lemonade to get enough to buy one on her own.”
Ropos knew he had an old iPad at his home, so he decided to go home and find it to give to Gabrielle. However, when he found it, he realized it didn’t work anymore. That didn’t stop him. He bought her a brand new iPad instead.
Leonbruno explained, “Today Deputy Ropos presented Gabrielle with her very own computer tablet. The gift became even more valuable when Gabrielle’s mother told him that just before he arrived Gabrielle offered to give all of her lemonade money to her mom to buy gas for the car!”
Readers responded to the story in the comments praising the actions of Ropos, Gabrielle and Gabrielle’s mother. One comment reads, “Kudos to both the officer and the little girl. Not only was she trying to work for what she wanted, she gave what she earned to her mother to help her out. Not many kids would do such a selfless thing.”
Another person wrote, “That’s a gift from his heart. Just as hers was to her mom.”
Then there was a comment that highlighted the mom’s role in this story. The comment explains, “I see lots of comments about the girl and the cop. My comments go to the MOM that taught her daughter to earn money for the things she wants, to give and expect nothing in return, and for teaching her daughter kindness! Way to go Mom!”
