Hundreds back kid after neighbour tries to shut down lemonade stand

12-year-old TJ Guerrero is an enterprising young man and he set up a lemonade stand outside his home to make some extra pocket money for himself.

Hundreds back kid after neighbour tries to shut down lemonade stand

12-year-old TJ Guerrero is an enterprising young man and he set up a lemonade stand outside his home to make some extra pocket money for himself.

One neighbour however has a massive problem with that.

Doug Wilkey, who’s 61, has been writing letters to officials in Dunedin City, Florida trying to get the stand shut down.

Wilkey started his campaign in May 2013 claiming that the lemonade stand causes noise, illegal parking and excessive traffic on the street where he lives.

After receiving the complaint city officials looked into young TJ’s stand and found that he usually only gets ten to 30 customers a day, with other neighbours said to be totally fine with his little business.

Having received two letters from Wilkey last year and two more in 2014 the city responded by saying they are “not in the business of putting lemonade stands out of business.”

After hearing TJ’s story local radio station 102.5 The Bone asked listeners to help TJ’s mini business and even sent down one of their presenters to sell lemonade and cookies while TJ was in school.

Hundreds, including in the city’s major, showed up and TJ got a nice shock on his return home to find his business booming - making around $1000 (€758) in a single day. Local police even volunteered to shepherd traffic safely from the area after they had purchased.

TJ was amazed by the gesture and his parents have promised to talk to the boy about donating some of his profits to charity (we’re sure he will).

Wilkey, who claimed the lemonade stand was an illegal business, could not be reached for comment by local media after several attempts.

Hat tip: huffingtonpost.com

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