MANCHESTER – When life tosses you lemons, your best bet is to make some lemonade and a township 7-year-old is doing just that to help a variety of good causes.
Dalton Sardo really didn’t get tossed any lemons but he saw that some people could use some support.
He enlisted his mom, Amy Sardo, to make the lemonade that he is pitching outside their home at 1409 Fifth Avenue in the Pine Lake Park section of the township.
The Manchester Times caught up with Dalton his mom and other family members during a hot summer day. He was busy soliciting travelers on the street to stop and wet their whistle with some of his nice cold and tangy lemonade. There were fresh brownies and cookies decorated as lemons with yellow icing available for purchase as well.
The Ridgeway Elementary School student explained how it all began. “I’ve been doing this for several weeks now. The police came and supported me and so I donated money to them after that. I’m picking a different charity every week.
“I helped Alex’s Lemonade Stand (which is foundation that supports research and awarenesss for childhood cancer),” Dalton added.
His mother said that St. Jude Hospital is also on the list of agencies they support. St. Jude’s also supports children with cancer and their families through no cost treatments at the eight affiliate clinics across the United States and seeks to provide state-of-the art care and innovative clinical trials.
“He also wants to help EMS and fire companies in Manchester,” his mother said.
Dalton’s young neighbor Abby was sitting beside him. “His brothers don’t really help him too much,” his mom joked.
The Lemonade Kid was sporting his special customized hat and T-shirt that featured text on the front and the back about his mission.
Dalton urged those wanting to support his effort to stop by his home, “look for the white house with blue shudders on Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m.” A cup of lemonade is one dollar. The cookies and brownies are baked by his mother as well. “Mommy’s a baker. We just got a lemon cookie cutter” Dalton’s mom added.
When asked how business was that day, Dalton replied quickly “Good!” His Aunt Jennifer Sardo was among those customers. She made the trip from Jackson to help support the effort and visit the family.
Proceeds from that week’s sale went to “Charlotte – a little girl who lives in Barnegat that has cancer. They had a Lemonade stand out there for her last weekend and she has a dream to go to Disney,” Amy Sardo said.
“His cousin Sammy died when he was nine years old from cancer almost four years ago so this one is special to us,” Dalton’s mom added.
She said, “we’re definitely going to do St. Jude also but we wanted to help Charlotte get to Disney.
“He is here the whole four hours every week. I am extremely proud of him,” Amy Sardo said. “It is a way to give back as people have been very generous to him and he is giving something back. He’ll be doing this through the end of the summer once a week.
Dalton spends most of his time in back of the old-fashioned wooden lemonade stand that his mother said was donated from a friend of hers.
With summer drawing to a close in only a few weeks, those seeking a sweet and tangy drink, some delicious cookies for a dollar each that will help a good cause, are encouraged to stop by the Sardo household on Wednesday afternoons.
“We’re doing it during the summer when people are actually hot and need a cool drink,” Dalton added.
