Coeur d'Alene boy raises nearly $1,000 for local first responders through lemonade stand
HAILEY HILL | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 months, 3 weeks AGO
Three-year-old Sawyer with Kootenai County EMS System Chief Rodney Geilenfeldt and his mom, Kayla Wortley.
HAILEY HILL/Press
Three-year-old Sawyer pours lemonade with his mom, Kayla Wortley, at his lemonade stand on Tuesday. Sawyer raised around $990 in total for area families and first responders impacted by Sunday's shooting on Canfield Mountain.
COEUR d’ALENE — The going price for the lemonade 3-year-old Sawyer sold along Kathleen Avenue on Tuesday was 50 cents a cup.
His first customer gave him $50.
Sawyer, assisted by his family, had no intention of keeping any of the cash.
Every cup of lemonade he sold was a donation to families and firefighters affected by Sunday’s shooting that resulted in the deaths of two firefighters and left a third with critical injuries.
"He told us that he wanted to donate for all the people that can't come out to donate," Sawyer's mom, Kayla Wortley, said.
Sawyer and his parents watched from their home that day as smoke rose from what is now being called the Nettleton Gulch Fire on Canfield Mountain.
Wortley said it wasn’t easy to explain to her young son what had happened.
“I put it as, ‘there’s a bad person and he got two firefighters, but they’re in heaven now,’” Wortley said, “and he goes, ‘I wanna help.’”
Many who stopped by Sawyer’s stand to buy lemonade and popcorn handed him $20, $10, and $5 bills. All told, Sawyer raised about $1,000, with some donating even after he closed up shop.
“It means a lot that this little guy cares so much about our firefighters,” Kootenai County EMS System Chief Rodney Geilenfeldt said. “We’re grateful for Sawyer.”
The tragedy hit close to home for the Wortley family. Kayla and her husband had trained with battalion chiefs John Morrison and Frank Harwood when she was a volunteer firefighter.
Seeing the community come together to honor the fallen and injured men has been healing for the entire family.
“This is what small towns do to support our community,” said Sawyer’s grandmother, Dusti Bacon.
Three-year-old Sawyer pours lemonade with his mom, Kayla Wortley, at his lemonade stand on Tuesday. Sawyer raised around $990 in total for area families and first responders impacted by Sunday's shooting on Canfield Mountain.ARTICLES BY HAILEY HILL
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