Back in fourth grade, if I was raising money for a cause, it was probably just because it benefitted me in some way. I’d sell hundreds of candy bars to raise money for my school but all I really cared about was picking out my own prize for number of bars sold.
There are way more children raising money for charity these days than when I was a kid, which is great, but there are also way more people being dicks to little kids. That’s not so fantastic.
For the past three years, fourth-grader Maya Leachman of Monroe has sold lemonade at her stand to raise money for Alzheimer’s research in honor of her grandfather who’s suffering from the debilitating disease.
On Sunday, a thief used fake money to cheat Maya out of $50 while she was busy making sales.
When the man rode up on a black bicycle and asked for change for a $50 bill, no one really gave it a second thought since the sale involved a soon-to-be 9-year-old girl raising money for charity. Ms. Leachman said they discovered the bill was phony at the end of the day while counting the donations.
I bet the bike was stolen too.
“I was upset my child had to see that side of humanity,” said her mother, Lisa Leachman. “It’s just sad that you have to teach your child that you can’t trust everybody.”
Especially when she’s raising money for charity. The guy cheated her out of $50 or possibly a little less if he actually did the semi-decent thing and bought a glass of lemonade.
Even though one dickhead on a bike ruined the day, Maya still had something to be proud of — she raised $1,151.88 selling her special lemonade shake-up and popcorn in just four hours. That’s pretty damn impressive.
Police were called, and the counterfeit money was reported, but the con man is still at large.
[via Monroe News]