Community rallies around 7-year-old Saskatoon girl robbed of cash, candy at lemonade stand

Dan Zakreski · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 26, 2024 2:54 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 26

Madison Vanden Dungen’s week started sour and ended sweet.

On Monday, two teens robbed the seven-year-old’s lemonade stand, set up on the front lawn of her home in Saskatoon’s Westview neighbourhood. Madison was shaken by the experience, but not hurt.

The little girl’s story touched people across the city and the country.

Her mother, Jade Floata, said Madison wanted to save money to start her own business.

“She’s been dabbling in investments the last year and she understands what it is, so you can talk to her about that,” Floata said.

“She wants to invest it, she wants to start new businesses, she wants a lemonade truck or something.”

Friends created a fundraiser page which, by Friday morning, had raised $11,561. Close to another $3,000 will be added to that nest egg after Thursday night.

The Western Canadian Baseball League’s Saskatoon Berries invited Madison to sell lemonade at a home game Thursday. Floata said Maddy sold $2,988 worth of lemonade.

“The amount of gratitude is overwhelming,” she said.

WATCH | Saskatoon girl robbed at lemonade stand finds sweet success at baseball game: 

The Saskatoon Berries invited seven-year-old Madison Vanden Dungen to sell lemonade at their Western Canadian Baseball League game Thursday night after learning about the robbery of her lemonade stand on Monday. Police say two teenage boys are facing charges after drink cups were thrown, the counter trashed and her money stolen.

Tyler Wawryk, vice president of business operations for the team, said it was an easy decision to invite her to the game.

“We just started kind of talking, ‘What can we do?'” he said.

“We thought, why not have her out and she can sell lemonade at a baseball game?”

The Berries supplied the lemonade and the stand.

The team also had a sweet night, earning a 9-3 victory over the Swift Current 57s.