There’s an old saying that goes, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” and that’s exactly what this community did when it rallied behind one of their own after something disheartening happened to her.

Alizay Kashif is an 11 year-old girl from Naperville, Illinois who decided she wanted to start a lemonade stand in a quiet cul-de-sac outside her home to raise money for Feeding America, a hunger relief organization based in Chicago. After two and a half hours of working the stand, Alizay had only raised a meager $9, so her father Kashif Zaman came outside to offer to buy some of her snacks and drinks.

“I need some real customers,” she replied in frustration, not wanting her father’s pity.

Not long after that, two teenagers approached the stand, which pleased Alizay at first because she assumed they were customers. After asking Alizay what she was selling, they told her that they didn’t have any cash on them and would be back later to buy some lemonade. Minutes later, they returned in a car with two other teens and stole Alizay’s $9.

Seeing how devastated Alizay was, Kashif turned to social media for help. Not only did internet users tell the father and daughter to go to police, 50 to 60 of the strangers told Alizay to keep selling lemonade.

One of the strangers who encouraged her to keep going was Ben Hutchinson, a former television news reporter in Milwaukee. He told Alizay that she could set up her lemonade stand in front of his house, as it is located in a part of town that has more traffic. When she set up her stand, she was greeted by dozens of people who heard her story and were eager to try her lemonade. Business was booming, and it got even better when a motorcade of Naperville police cars arrived with their sirens blaring. The officers had set up a collection at their station, and they gave Alizay $170 to donate to her cause.

Last week, Alizay & Emaan set up a lemonade stand to raise money for @FeedingAmerica. Teens stole the jar w/$9 they made in 2.5 hours. I saw the post & told their dad they could set up on our corner. @NapervillePD showed up & donated $170! In total, they raised over $300 ??? pic.twitter.com/ju7CKL0qKE

— Ben Hutchison (@Ben__Hutchison) July 15, 2019

“I think that really made the day,” Alizay said. “I think that was super nice, and it played a really big part.”

In the end, Alizay managed to raise $348, which Feeding America says will help to feed over 6,000 hungry families across the nation.

“I can only imagine being hungry,” Alizay told the organization. “Getting to help hungry people is an honor and a blessing.”

What a kind and generous young girl! We need more people in the world like her. Find out more about this in the video below.