5-Year-Old Runs Ice Cream Stand For A Wonderful Cause
Summer is for playing outside, going to the beach and being with friends. Right? Not for 5-year-old Haylen Astalos. This go-getter is spending his summer running his ice cream stand. He sells treats and ice cream to raise money for sick children.
"It's amazing," his mom, Tabita Astalos, of Blackfalds, Canada, told ABC News. "He talks about it almost every night. When I'm laying there chatting with him, he’ll tell me how excited he is to reach his goal and to help the kids. He's very interested in counting his money all the time, so he knows how far away from his goal he is."
The idea rose after he had a "five-for-five" party for his fifth birthday. "Each guest brought two five-dollar bills -- one for him to keep, and one for a charity of choice," Astalos said. "We presented him with a whole bunch of different charities and told him what each one did."
Haylen decided to donate $100 of his birthday money to the Ronald McDonald House. And then that's where he decided to take on a project of his own... selling ice cream. He donates all his earnings to the Ronald McDonald House to help sick children.
"He mentioned to me that he wanted to build an ice cream shop," Astalos said. "Being a 5-year-old, I thought maybe he had forgotten about the Ronald McDonald House. I asked him what he wanted to do with the money he made, and he said, 'I want to fill up my bucket and keep giving it back to them, so I can help all the sick kids that are there.'"
Haylen reached $2,617.21 on July 18, in less than one year, which he donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. His next goal is $3009.00... which he chose all on his own!
